Cancelled The Last of Us multiplayer ‘more fun than any online’ game
We first heard that The Last of Us Part II was getting multiplayer during E3 2018 and understandably fans were excited at that prospect considering how fun the original game Faction’s mode was.
It was later revealed that this multiplayer offering would be a standalone game and it would be released in 2023. We’re at the end of 2023 and no multiplayer game is in sight. At the beginning of the year, Naughty Dog shared a new piece of concept art for the highly anticipated multiplayer game.
In October 2023 there were rumblings that The Last of Us multiplayer game was in trouble. The Last of Us multiplayer game was put on hold, but not cancelled, apparently. Still, fans were concerned given the fact that at this point the multiplayer offering was announced five years ago, but we’d still not seen official gameplay.
Sadly, all the previous rumours were confirmed and Naughty Dog completely cancelled The Last of Us multiplayer game. “We realise many of you have been anticipating news around the project that we’ve been calling The Last of Us Online. There’s no easy way to say this: We’ve made the incredibly difficult decision to stop development on that game,” said Naughty Dog in a statement.
The statement continued: “We’re equally crushed at the studio as we were looking forward to putting it in your hands. We wanted to share with you some background on how we came to this decision. The multiplayer team has been in pre-production with this game since we were working on The Last of Us Part II – crafting an experience we felt was unique and had tremendous potential.”
“As the multiplayer team iterated on their concept for The Last of Us Online during this time, their vision crystalised, the gameplay got more refined and satisfying, and we were enthusiastic about the direction in which we were headed. In ramping up to full production, the massive scope of our ambition became clear. To release and support The Last of Us Online we’d have to put all our studio resources behind supporting post-launch content for years to come, severely impacting the development of future single-player games.”
“So, we had two paths in front of us: become a solely live service games studio or continue to focus on single-player narrative games that have defined Naughty Dog’s heritage. We are immensely proud of everyone at the studio who touched this project. The learnings and investments in technology from this game will carry into how we develop our projects and will be invaluable in the direction we are headed as a studio.
Naughty Dog concluded “We have more than one ambitious, brand new single-player game that we’re working on here at Naughty Dog, and we cannot wait to share more about what comes next when we’re ready. Until then, we’re incredibly thankful to our community for your support throughout the years.”
Several days have now passed since the project had been cancelled and former developers have had positive things to say about the multiplayer game. Former technical designer Nathaniel Ferguson said in a tweet that this game has been the “highlight” of his career so far and that it will always be “a very special project.”
Karl Morley, a game designer at the studio said that he had “more fun playing [The Last of Us multiplayer game] than any other. Finally, dialogue director Kat McNally added “It’s never easy to have a game cancelled, but I’m so proud of my studio and everything we accomplished on this project. Big shout out to my combat QA and dialogue teams.”
As a fan of the series and one who wanted more of Factions, it is sad news, especially considering that individual developers had positive things to say about the project. However, I trust that Naughty Dog has done the right thing and I’d hate it to hinder the quality of the next and unannounced Uncharted game or The Last of Us Part III.
As for the more immediate future, The Last of Us Part II Remastered will be released for PlayStation 5 on 19 January. The game will cost just £10/$10 for those that own the original PS4 game and it comes with a wealth of new modes and features.
Featured Image Credit: Sony Interactive Entertainment