Neil Druckmann has gone on record to call Naughty Dog’s upcoming The Last Of Us multiplayer their most ambitious project to date.
In a recent interview, Neil was asked what Naughty Dog was working on at the moment. This was what he had to say:
“You know there is a Last of Us multiplayer project that we’ve been working on for a long time, since even before The Last of Us Part 2 shipped. That’s the most ambitious project we’ve ever done, expanding the world even further, continuing to tell a story but in a multiplayer space, I won’t say too much about that.”
Naughty Dog announced that The Last Of Us for the PlayStation 3 would have multiplayer all the way back in 2012. While they also clarified immediately that this would not be bundled in with The Last Of Us itself, the fact that it never materialized for all those years means that The Last of Us multiplayer fits the definition for vaporware.
We would have to assume that Naughty Dog did not intend to mislead fans, as they have not stopped talking about working on this multiplayer. Frustratingly, they have also kept details close to the chest about it. But it seems that the game had increased in scope and ambition, and they had simply been working on getting everything right for it to happen in these past three console generations. The fact that Sony had not intervened to cancel what is potentially now an extremely over budget project suggests that they have faith in Naughty Dog and the project itself.
There was a leak almost a decade ago suggesting that this multiplayer game would involve players joining different clans. These clans then fight through waves of zombies in a survival mode, that’s only one part of a broader game.
The last we could have possibly seen anything of the game was two weeks ago. Neil did confirm finally that it would be a standalone title with new characters. Naughty Dog also shared a picture of an abandoned cruise liner, giving fans some idea of what kind of scenarios they could be looking forward for it.
Neil also mentioned that the studio has at least one unannounced project in the works:
“There’s another project that I will not say anything about that’s beyond that that we’re very much excited for.”
Either or both of these games could, in fact, be pegged as live service games, which would line in nicely with Sony’s announced plans for the future. In fact, it would also explain why Sony was willing to wait nearly a decade for this game to get off the ground.
Keep reading GameRanx for more details on The Last Of Us multiplayer, including platforms and release dates.
Source: PSU
