The team over at Naughty Dog hasn’t revealed anything substantial in a good while. However, while the studio hasn’t unveiled anything recently, the multiplayer project was revealed in 2018. Naughty Dog has been working on a standalone multiplayer gameplay experience that is set within The Last of Us universe. Details had been slim, but the project has been in development ever since, and as far as we know officially, the development team is continuing to push through the game for an eventual release. However, one insider has come out to reveal the game was killed off.
We knew there had been some trouble over at Naughty Dog. A few layoffs were announced, and it was also unveiled that the principal monetization designer for the studio, Anders Howard, had left the company. That left some speculating about what the future of this multiplayer game holds. Now, thanks to a post on X, ViewerAnon has stated this project is dead. ViewerAnon is an industry insider who often looks into film projects, but they have also made some announcements regarding the video game industry.
Likewise, this account has a strong following. So, it’s likely that this game project has been killed off or shelved in the meantime. There’s nothing official quite yet regarding the cancellation of this project. Furthermore, we know that PlayStation has been striving to become big in terms of live service games, and this Naughty Dog multiplayer game would have likely played a large part in their plans. It was back in 2022 that we found out Sony was seeking to release at least ten live service games by 2026. This outlook for Sony’s future continued this year.
Perhaps Sony just didn’t feel that this game project would entice players for years to come. Of course, there’s also the slew of rumors that continue to point at Naughty Dog bringing out a third installment to The Last of Us franchise. That might also be due to the new resurgence of the franchise thanks to HBO’s live-action adaptation. However, right now, rumors are all we have when it comes to both the cancellation of The Last of Us multiplayer game along with The Last of Us Part III. Fortunately, with the strikes in Hollywood ending, we know that season 2 of The Last of Us is ready to start production, so we have something confirmed in the works for the franchise.
