An insider has broken down some details on why Naughty Dog cancelled The Last of Us Online.
15.12.2023 - 00:55 / videogameschronicle.com / Last Of Us
Naughty Dog has cancelled The Last of Us Online.
In a statement on its website, the developer said: “We realize many of you have been anticipating news around the project that we’ve been calling The Last of Us Online.
“There’s no easy way to say this: We’ve made the incredibly difficult decision to stop development on that game.
“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. We wanted to share with you some background of how we came to this decision.”
Sony reportedly scaled back the size of Naughty Dog’s The Last of Us multiplayer game earlier this year, following an evaluation by the platform holder and newly-acquired Bungie.
According to a Bloomberg report in May, the number of people working on the project had been reduced, partly as a result of the Destiny studio’s feedback as to its quality and viability.
“Bungie raised questions about The Last of Us multiplayer project’s ability to keep players engaged for a long period of time, which led to the reassessment,” the Bloomberg report claimed.
Shortly before the Bloomberg report’s publication in May, Naughty Dog seemingly pre-empted the story with a statement on social media, in which it indicated that The Last of Us multiplayer game would require more time in development.
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Today’s statement confirming the cancellation continues: “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.
“We are immensely proud of everyone at the studio that touched this project. The learnings and investments in technology from this game will carry into how we develop our projects and will be invaluable in the direction we are headed as a studio.
“We have more than one
An insider has broken down some details on why Naughty Dog cancelled The Last of Us Online.
In a new blog published to the game’s official site, Andy Tsen, co-founder of Ramen VR, fully officially discussed the prospects of Zenith: The Last City’s 2.0 version. The blog also acknowledges that alpha playtests will be enacted soon.
Naughty Dog’s planned multiplayer game set in the world of The Last of Us is no more. The studio announced Thursday that it has “made the incredibly difficult decision to stop development on” what it’s been calling The Last of Us Online.
Naughty Dog have officially stopped development of The Last Of Us Online, a multiplayer game based on their celebrated McCarthyite (no, not that McCarthy - I mean the novelist) post-apocalyptic action-adventure. Announced in the dusty days of 2018 as a multiplayer mode for The Last Of Us: Part 2, it evolved into a standalone experience with new characters and a new setting, but Sony reportedly scaled the project back earlier this year. Naughty Dog have now formally called it quits, stating that supporting a live service project such as this would have “severely impacted” future single-player game projects. Sony never locked down platforms for The Last Of Us Online, but a PC release was surely on the cards, though I would have expected the game to launch first on PlayStation, as with the original Last Of Us and Uncharted 4.
Alongside confirmation that it’s cancelled its hotly anticipated The Last of Us Multiplayer project, Naughty Dog sought to reassure fans by confirming it has “more than one” ambitious single player titles in the works. The studio admitted that, had it followed through its live service plans, it would have had to ditch the type of titles it’s known for – and ultimately, it wasn’t prepared to do that.
There was a ton of hype built up around The Last of Us Online. It was going to be a different kind of gameplay experience than what Naughty Dog is mainly known for. We’ve seen this studio turn out some incredibly detailed single-player experiences. But rather than adding a multiplayer component to The Last of Us Part II, a full-on multiplayer gameplay experience was being worked on. Unfortunately, as you all likely have heard, Naughty Dog has unveiled that production for this multiplayer title based on The Last of Us franchise has been killed off.
The Last of Us developer Naughty Dog has confirmed that more than one single-player game is in development at the studio.
The Last of Us multiplayer spin-off has effectively been canceled at Naughty Dog.
Naughty Dog has stopped development on The Last of Us Online.
Naughty Dog has confirmed that it has stopped development on its multiplayer The Last of Us title — known as The Last of Us Online — after concerns that it would impact the studio’s future single-player games.
Naughty Dog has cancelled The Last Of Us Online.
Naughty Dog’s hyped The Last of Us online multiplayer game, once said to be the most ambitious thing they’ve ever worked on, has been canceled. We’d heard for a while that the project was “on ice” following an unfavorable internal assessment by Bungie. That said, the game was never officially canceled. That’s now changed, with Naughty Dog providing a very clear reason for the change – they realized fully supporting a live service game would essentially mean becoming a live service studio, and they don’t want to do that.