Naughty Dog has cancelled The Last Of Us Online.
The Last Of Us Online was the codename for the game Naughty Dog teased as far back as four years ago. Because Naughty Dog didn’t share this codename in public, it was tentatively titled The Last Of Us Factions and The Last Of Us Multiplayer by fans and press.
We reported on Naughty Dog’s announcement to bring back their Factions mode to The Last Of Us: Part II all the way back in 2018. They would eventually split the mode off with plans to make their own game. We also covered rumors that it was being converted into a live service game, which we will return to later.
In a post on their own website, Naughty Dog shared this explanation for the cancellation:
“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.
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.”
Naughty Dog’s statement corroborates some of what has been rumored, but also debunks others, and leaves a lot in a cloud of doubt. Mainly, the studio cites scope creep, as they have described here, as the main reason for the cancellation. They also confirm that The Last Of Us Online was shifting towards the live service game model.
Naughty Dog makes no mention of Jason Schreier’s widely circulated report that the project received poor feedback from Bungie. Bungie made this review at parent company’s Sony’s request, and as a consequence of their assessment, the project was scaled back.
Months later, we had reported on several layoffs at Naughty Dog, particularly in their QA department, in early October. Later in October, we had even more bombastic rumors. This time, the word was that Sony had fired veteran executive Connie Booth for the company’s failure to transition to live service games successfully, including The Last Of Us Online.
Perhaps it would have been too much to expect official confirmation of these rumors. In any case, it is certainly a disappointment that this game is now officially cancelled, and that it also seems this failure has come at the expense of many employees in Sony. We hope the former employees of Sony and Naughty Dog described in this report are doing well.
