Ok then, please tell me what are these games if there is plenty of them. Because I could only see Uncharted or inFamous which fit the description (or a new IP and even if it's a new IP, why would they need a collaboration with another studio ?)
Keep in mind that it has to fit with :
- 3rd person
- Action/Adventure games
- Using VASG expertise in previous titles
- Collab with a major Sony studio
- Cinematic storytelling
Given the fact that :
- former Naughty Dog devs are in this team
- this team exist since May 2018 (8 months after the last Uncharted / 4 years after the last inFamous game)
- Uncharted is one of the biggest IP of PlayStation
An Uncharted game is more likely than inFamous
And the "next chapter of cinematic storytelling" doesn't refer to Uncharted specifically of course. It's just another description of what they could do within this new team at San Diego.
For that TLOU2 multiplayer, the job description wouldn't fit
Especially when Naughty Dog has its own multiplayer team within the studio
1. Action/Adventure is a massive "catch-all" genre that includes everything from Uncharted to Hitman to Resident Evil to Zelda.
2. VASG do more than just cinematic cutscenes, they assist with gameplay animation, scanning and art too.
3. There's no mention of cinematic storytelling in relation to this studio or project. The job listing you're thinking of was for VASG, NOT the new studio. VASG are/will work on TLOU2, Death Stranding, Ghost of Tsushima, Horizon 2 and God of War 2, so them hiring for a position that involves cinematic storytelling is self explanatory. I don't know why I need to keep bringing this up.
So no, there's a LOT of games that could fit that description.
As for your facts:
1. Yeah, they hired two former Naughty Dog devs but Quentin Cobb worked mostly on multiplayer at Naughty Dog, not single player. And if you look at the rest of the team we know about, they mostly come from multiplayer backgrounds.
2. Being founded 8 months after the last Uncharted game came out isn't a sign of anything Uncharted related, if anything you'd want to found an Uncharted studio before Naughty Dog dropped it so they could keep its momentum going. Just look at 343, it was founded in 2007, the same year Halo 3 came out and three years before Bungie released their last Halo, Reach.
3. Of course Uncharted is one of Sony's biggest IPs and that's why I believed the speculation at first but since then, this new studio has hired a lot of devs with MP backgrounds and that changed my mind. I'm sure Sony will bring Uncharted back at some point but I don't think it'll be by this team.
Finally, the part about their project being unannounced does throw a wrench in my theory but my take is TLOU2 multiplayer hasn't been announced yet, so I think it still works. Everything else fits though.
And while Naughty Dog does have a multiplayer team, they aren't set up to support their multiplayer long-term, they support their games for about a year and then drop support so they can start working on their next game. We know thanks to Shawn Layden that Sony wants more success in the MP arena, so it makes a lot of sense to me that they'd establish a team that can continue long-term support for the sequel to one of the best MP games Sony's released.
