Naughty Dog has cancelled ‘The Last Of Us’ multiplayer game.
Naughty Dog has cancelled ‘The Last of Us’ multiplayer game
The developer - which released the first title in the zombie survival series in 2013 - had been working on ‘The Last of Us Online’, which would have allowed players to team up and battle through the apocalypse. However, the studio has decided to scrap the game so they can focus on the third chapter in the single player franchise.
In an update to their website, Naughty Dog wrote: “We realise 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.
“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 crystalised, 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 ambitious, brand new single player game that we're working on here at Naughty Dog, and we cannot wait to share more about what comes next when we’re ready.”