Wrong, those assumptions were dismissed by Naughty Dog ages ago. They still have the same structure they used to have, a large team working on their main project and a small team working on prototypes/pre-production for their next project.
E3 2017 for Naughty Dog's next announcement seems like a relatively safe bet to me but who knows. Shit might happen, like it did with Uncharted 4 and SSM's new IP, or Sony might just want to hold off the announcement for longer, like they've done with God of War 4. We'll see.
Not on the creative department tho. And that is essential on the pre prod level. Also having one team in full production and another on pre production is not what ND had before. They had two full creative teams working on different projects, now since Amy and Justin left they have one as far as we know with Bruce and Neil
My guess is that God of War is Sony's big E3 announcement this year and The Last of Us 2 (or whatever ND is working on) is their big E3 reveal in 2017.
....along with Bloodborne 2, please god.
BB2 has to happen right? Miyazaki already set the tone of that universe, Japan Studio plus From secondary team can tackle the sequence. Wasnt The Old Hunters more Japan Studio work than From's?