Naughty Dog is ending development of The Last of Us Online

Naughty Dog confirms cancellation The Last of Us onlineindependent multiplayer that arose from The Last of Us Part 2. After months of rumors and speculation, the studio stopped development of the game. because it interfered with other internal projects. The decision is a blow to PlayStation’s strategy of launching games as a service.

“There is no easy way to say this: we have made the incredibly difficult decision to cease development of this game,” Naughty Dog said in a letter published on its blog. “We know this news will be difficult for many, especially our loyal community The Last of Us Factionswhich zealously pursues our multiplayer ambitions.”

the first signs that the game is in trouble appeared in mid-2023 when it was reported budget cuts. In accordance with BloombergNaughty Dog dismembered the team The Last of Us online and reassigned its members to other projects. Subsequently Kotaku posted this the studio fired 25 employees and froze development titles.

“The multiplayer team has been in pre-production on this game since we’ve been working on The Last of Us Part 2, creating an experience that we felt was unique and had great potential,” said Naughty Dog. “While the multiplayer team was reworking their concept The Last of Us online During this time, their vision crystallized, the gameplay became more refined and enjoyable, and we were excited about the direction we were heading in.”

Why was it cancelled? The Last of Us online?

In their latest blog post, Naughty Dog admitted that they have decided to cancel the show. The Last of Us online because will absorb all research resources. To ensure the success of a game as a service, a constant stream of content is necessary. This will affect the development of the player’s projects that he plans to launch in the future.

“We had two paths ahead of us: become a pure games-as-a-service studio or continue to focus on the single-player story-driven games that have defined Naughty Dog’s legacy,” the PlayStation-owned company said.

Naughty Dog mentioned this development The Last of Us online It was not in vain. All knowledge and investment in technology will be applied to the development of other games. The study showed that They are working on an ambitious single-player project. and that they will share information later.

Next game on the list. “The Last of Us Part 2: Remastered”remaster of the original game in 2020. Rumor has it that Naughty Dog is also working on The Last of Us Part IIIalthough Neil Druckmann has stated that they don’t want to get bogged down in a saga.