Naughty Dog revealed, that the much-anticipated The Last of Us Online has been canceled. The studio is now set to focus on their trademark single-player games instead.
In a new announcement, Naughty Dog (ND) revealed that development on the standalone The Last of Us multiplayer game has stopped. It’s a shame, but the writing has been on the wall for a while. Earlier this year, a report claimed that the game was internally on ice. Now, official word confirms that indeed the game is not coming after all.
Naughty Dog Cancels The Last of Us Online
The official statement explains in detail, why Naughty Dog decided to make this “incredibly difficult decision”:
“We know this news will be tough for many, especially our dedicated The Last of Us Factions community, who have been following our multiplayer ambitions ardently. We’re equally crushed at the studio as we were looking forward to putting it in your hands.
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 development on 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.”
Since the announcement, this dichotomy has been discussed controversially. Many shared sympathy with Naughty Dog, pointing at studios like Bungie or Epic Games to illustrate how much time and effort it takes to support a large-scale Game-as-a-Service (GaaS).
It can’t be doubted that this effort would have definitely taken many resources, which could have negatively impacted the development of ND’s trademark single-player games. However, the question remains open if there isn’t some kind of working balance that could have been found here, and if the game’s scope is being used as a sort of excuse to shelf a game that just didn’t end up being very good. The statement reminds us of the mind-boggling fact, that the multiplayer spin-off was originally supposed to be included in The Last of Us Part 2:
“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 crystalized, the gameplay got more refined and satisfying, and we were enthusiastic about the direction in which we were headed.”
Now, we will never get another crack at the iconic Factions multiplayer from the first game. To sweeten the deal, Naughty Dog reveals that they are currently working on “more than one ambitious, brand new single player game”, so at least there’s that. It has not been revealed, whether the cancellation of this game will lead to lay offs or what else will happen to these developers now.