Naughty Dog dev joins ZeniMax Online Studios to work on "unannounced AAA IP"

A former Naughty Dog designer is going to work on a secret new AAA project at the Elder Scrolls Online studio.

Quentin Cobb, who was a game designer on Uncharted 4 and also has design credits on The Last of Us and The Last of Us: Left Behind, announced the news on his personal Twitter account. On top of working on the new project, which he says is an "unannounced AAA IP", he's also helping to found a new San Diego-based satellite studio for ZeniMax Online.

ZeniMax Online will officially be a Microsoft studio once all the dust settles from Microsoft buying Bethesda, though its day-to-day operations may not change all that much. Xbox boss Phil Spencer made it clear that Bethesda will still run "semi-independently" even after the acquisition is completed.

ZeniMax Online Studios was founded in 2007, and its flagship project has been The Elder Scrolls Online ever since it first launched back in 2014. ZeniMax Online Studios has supported TESO with expansions and free updates in the following years, and now it looks like it's time for the studio to start broadening its horizons.

While the new IP's existence has been out in the open for at least a year, the developers are keeping their lips sealed about what it actually will be. Putting Naughty Dog and DICE talent at the fore of the project screams "action game" to me, and the whole "Online" part of ZeniMax Online makes a strong emphasis on multiplayer a natural conclusion. That said, it's all just speculation until the developers decide to share more from the inside.

They need to actually announce this thing so that we can add it to our list of new games 2020 and beyond.