Naughty Dog – a studio that’s primarily known for its single-player titles – was looking to enter our sphere of the gaming world when it announced plans for multiplayer for its dramatic and heart-wrenching zombie title The Last of Us, which itself dovetailed from a multiplayer mode that was initially designed for the sequel. Details on this so-called Last of Us Online were otherwise pretty slim, with the most recent piece of news being a plan to scale the mode back and word that it needed more time.
That was until this week, anyway, when Naughty Dog announced that work on the multiplayer mode is being ended completely. The explanation given by the studio is generally pretty upfront: It was an idea that would take more attention and resources than the studio could manage.
“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.”
The effort spent on a multiplayer TLOU isn’t being entirely wasted, as the studio claims investments in technology from the project will go towards its next big single-player title, but for those who were hoping for some online multiplayer in a world full of mushroom zombies, that world won’t be happening.
