Sony’s Naughty Dog has decided to stop development on its multiplayer project, The Last of Us Online, due to the massive scope of their ambition and fears that the game may not be viable in the future. The multiplayer team has been working on the online game since the development of The Last of Us Part II in 2018, crafting a potentially unique experience. However, to release and support The Last of Us Online, all studio resources would have to be dedicated to post-launch content for years, severely impacting development on future single-player games.
“There’s no easy way to say this: We’ve made the incredibly difficult decision to stop development on [TLOU Online].” the press release starts with. “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.”
All this comes after Naughty Dog had underwent a wave of layoffs this past October, including contract developers. The studio, known for producing hits like Uncharted and The Last of Us, has cut contracts short for dozens of workers, with at least 25 developers being part of the downsizing. Full-time staff do not appear to have been part of the cuts. Naughty Dog’s headcount was over 400 as of July. No severance was being offered for those currently laid off, and impacted developers and remaining employees were pressured to keep the news quiet. Their contracts will not be officially terminated until the end of October.
The layoffs came a few months after studio co-president Evan Wells announced his retirement at the end of 2023 after working at Naughty Dog for 19 years. Neil Druckmann, creative director, and lead co-writer on both the most recent Uncharted and The Last of Us games, as well as a contributor to the HBO show, revealed a restructuring of the studio leadership around the same time.
As for the online game, Naughty Dog was forced to expand production capacity, revealing the need for a dedicated studio to support post-launch content for The Last of Us Online. Back in May, there were reports of the dedicated dev teams began shrinking as time went on. Ultimately, this arrangement would have significantly impacted future single-player game development, and, in trade, would have set up a live-service model; which is the reason stated for dropping online play. “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 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.” the statement concludes. Naughty Dog has scheduled the release of The Last of Us Part 2 Remastered on the PlayStation 5 for January.
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