A single podcast guess spiraled into ‘confirmed leaks’ before industry insiders shut it all down.
In the past few weeks, rumors about Naughty Dog’s next universe have gotten louder, but not in the way that many people thought they would. Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet, the studio’s new IP, has become the subject of a strange web of rumors, misquotes, corrections, and counter-corrections. The outcome says more about the current state of video game news than it does about the game itself. But among all the noise, one truth stands out. Intergalactic isn’t likely to be at the next awards show, and it won’t come out until well after 2026.
The project is real, has big goals, and is slowly moving forward, but not at all on the schedule that fans have been making up. What happened happened after a talk on a podcast. A guest said that it wouldn’t be surprising to see Intergalactic at the Game Awards and that it might come out in late 2026 during a talk about upcoming PlayStation games. The way he put it made it clear that he wasn’t giving inside information but rather personal guesses.
But within hours, that rumor was spreading across the internet as a leak, without any of the original context or complexity.
The story moved along quickly. Reddit posts made the quote more famous. News sites about games had headlines. Phrases like “it wouldn’t surprise me” were turned into statements. Soon, a completely different story from the one that was told out loud spread on the internet. It became a classic example of how game rumors change with each new version, losing their original meaning over time.
The first change came in quietly. Jason Schreier of Bloomberg replied on Reddit, making it clear that the rumor about a 2026 release was false. Not long after that, writer Jeff Grubb made it public that Intergalactic would not be at the Game Awards at all. These explanations changed the conversation and set expectations for a much later release date, maybe even 2027 or later. Both sounds have a good history. Neither said they had official studio information. Nevertheless, their idea is useful because it fits with known dates for Naughty Dog’s creation cycles.
This series of events could have stopped there, but rumors turned them into something bigger. Not whether the changes are right or wrong, but how quickly the first wrong ideas spread is what’s tense here. A simple comment turned into a “leak.” A “report” was made out of a personal view. It turned a chance into “confirmation.” It shows how in the digital world, subtleties are often lost, and speed has taken precedence over accuracy.
The circle shows a bigger problem in the way people talk about games. Social networks like instant gratification. Headlines put virality ahead of context. People often see quotes that don’t have sources, and threads tend to get very long before anyone checks the original quote. When false information spreads, it’s hard for the truth to get back to its original position. It’s rare for changes to spread as far or as quickly as the rumor that started it all.
What’s strange is how easy the original message really was. A guest made guesses about when a game would come out. Others told him that what he said was true. And big sites copied the framing without going back to the source. In the business world, this trend has happened many times. It is strange to see the same pattern play out over and over again as if it were brand new. There is no problem with speculation. What’s wrong is how easily guesswork is confused for insider knowledge in a society that likes shocking stories.
It’s funny that the real information that is coming out of the situation is more important than the gossip. It will not be shown for the first time at the Game Awards. The game won’t come out in 2026. The first signs point to a big project that will need several more years to build. This fits with Naughty Dog’s past of taking a long time to make games and not releasing new worlds until they are sure the base is ready.
While the studio is usually quiet, this is not the case. Naughty Dog usually keeps quiet for a long time between projects and only comes out with information when they are ready. Their way of telling stories is based on style and accuracy. When new IPs come out, they are usually very rare and carefully planned. Since The Last of Us Part II is coming out in 2020 and the solo multiplayer project is in limbo, it makes sense that the team’s resources would have been put toward big internal projects. To create a whole new world, you need to plan the story, come up with ideas, and set up technical systems and pipelines that don’t usually appear quickly.
The clarity that comes from this makes PlayStation’s long-term plans look better. A new Naughty Dog IP is not a quick fix; it’s a big deal for the whole generation. Fans who are looking forward to a surprise show soon should not get too excited. If the studio is ready, the first looks could come out late next year. And if not, the reveal might have to wait until 2027, when things will be more under control.
The situation shows something interesting about modern gaming society that has nothing to do with the game itself. The news cycle now works like the telephone game you played as a child, where each time you tell the story, it changes the meaning. But, compared to when I was a kid, the stakes are higher, and the audience is bigger. Misunderstanding a comment can have an effect on millions of people in just a few hours. Once the distortion is part of the environment, it’s hard to get rid of.
This is why being correct is important. The game business depends on people being excited. When a big company like Naughty Dog is working on something new, fans pay close attention to every rumor. But clarity, not confusion, is what makes expectation grow. When guesses are taken as facts, hopes rise above what is realistic. This leads to cycles of disappointment, anger that isn’t directed where it should be, and broken conversations.
The picture is now clearer because our goals are more realistic. Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet is still a long way off. Its secret will not be revealed at the next awards show. It won’t take off until 2026. Instead, the game is still being quietly worked on in one of Sony’s most prestigious teams, with the kind of patience that has always been at the heart of their best work.
The secret is still there. And maybe that is right. A new universe should come into being on its own terms, not by being messed up. The steady, quiet trip toward its debut goes on, far away from the noise around it.
