Naughty Dog has repeatedly stifled advances about ever seeing The Last of Us 2, saying the story of Ellie and Joel has ended. But after receiving every award imaginable for the post-apocalyptic title, the developer's mindset might be changing slightly now that the game's single player DLC, Left Behind, is ready to hit the market (on Feb. 14). In a recent interview with Eurogamer, Naughty Dog's Neil Druckman revealed that the studio has definitely discussed sequel ideas.

"We have started brainstorming some stuff," Druckman said. "To be honest, some of them are sequel ideas, and some of them are brand new IP—we've spent the last few weeks brainstorming new IP."

Speaking further on the subject, Druckman said the studio will only pursue a sequel if they can "tell people a story that's worth telling, and that's not repeating itself." With Left Behind, Naughty Dog is giving players a chance to explore Ellie's life before she met Joel, and before she linked up with the Fireflies. Druckman went on to say that the studio is very careful about what projects it chooses, and first wants to get a feel for where the demand is. Having just received 10 D.I.C.E. awards, I'd say demand is quite high.

Of course, Naughty Dog only has two teams, so resources are limited to begin with. Right now, one team is working on Uncharted 4, while the other just wrapped up Left Behind. Now it's time to either work on a sequel, or a brand new IP, which Druckman mentioned. What that might be is anyone's guess. We still haven't even seen much of Uncharted outside of a brief teaser, but even that didn't reveal much.

For now, Druckman said he and Bruce Straley, game director of The Last of Us, just want to take a break having worked on TLoU for the past four years. But a sequel is no longer out of the question should the studio come up with the right story. Left Behind will be available as DLC (you'll need The Last of Us) on Feb. 14 for $14.99.