The Last of Us Multiplayer Project has been Cancelled
In a recent post on its website, Naughty Dog announced that their multiplayer project based on the world of The Last of Us has been canned. They announced this with the following statement, which confirms that all development on the project has ceased:
“We realize 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.”
Image by Naughty Dog
The studio provided several reasons for this decision. The main justification is that the studio wants to keep working on single player experiences and, unfortunately, the majority of their resources would have to be spent supporting and updating the live service Last of Us project that would mean single player titles are either not worked on at all or are hindered substantially. This makes sense as Naughty Dog has always been almost fully focused on single player games- and they are remarkably good at delivering on these projects. To deviate so much from what made their studio so popular and unique for so many years would be detrimental to both the multiplayer game and any other projects they had in mind.
The studio put it best when they stated the following regarding their decision here:
“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.”
Although disappointing for a lot of fans (especially those who were looking forward to a successor of The Last of Us: Factions from the original game), this decision makes a lot of sense. Naughty Dog has, and always will be, dedicated to narrative-led single-player adventures. Their Uncharted and Last of Us franchises deliver some of the most detailed worlds, characters, and stories in the industry- and it would be a shame to leave so much potential to developing constant updates and roadmaps for one multiplayer project.
Image by Naughty Dog
The news here follows on from rumours and leaks that development on the Last of Us Online was rocky. The studio were apparently struggling to decide on one singular vision for the game- which ended up causing more and more delays. Since its announcement back in 2021, there’s been essentially no official news- which wasn’t a good sign for what was meant to be Sony’s next huge exclusive. Simply put, it seems the studio just wasn’t that invested in this project- and sticking to what they knew and were good at seemed to be the best pathway for the studio going forward. Considering how fantastic their games are, I’m inclined to agree.
Image by Naughty Dog
Naughty Dog concluded the announcement with the following:
“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.”
So, after a bout of multiplayer madness, Naughty Dog appears to be back on the single-player development ladder. Considering that they mention multiple games being in development, there is bound to be a lot of speculation. Whether its the Last of Us Part III, a return to Jak and Daxter, or a wholly new IP, considering their phenomenal track record, whatever it is, it’s bound to be worth looking out for.
