Naughty Dog cancels The Last of Us multiplayer game after nearly four years of work

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Pre-production work began before The Last of Us 2 released

The Last of Us
(Image credit: Naughty Dog)

The Last of Us multiplayer spin-off has effectively been canceled at Naughty Dog.

The developer has made the announcement in a blog post posted to its website and social media. "There's no easy way to say this: We've made the incredibly difficult decision to stop development on that game," Naughty Dog writes in the blog, acknowledging that many were eagerly awaiting news on the game they'd come to call 'The Last of Us Online.'

"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," the announcement continues. "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."

Naughty Dog then reveals that the multiplayer team had been in "pre-production," before The Last of Us 2 even launched. That means, in theory, the multiplayer team has been in pre-production for nearly four years now. Naughty Dog also says the entire experience was "unique and had tremendous potential."

However, with the increase in production came a "massive scope" in ambition. "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," the studio then writes.

So the studio was left with two paths: become a "solely live service games studio," or continue to make single-player games, but ditch the new multiplayer project. Naughty Dog chose the latter, prioritizing its single-player games over going all-in on the one multiplayer game.

Naughty Dog ends the message by adding they've got "more than one ambitious, brand new single-player game" in the works right now, and they're looking forward to sharing more about them at a future date. We don't currently know if this is an original game for Naughty Dog or revisiting an established series like The Last of Us.

A report claimed back in October that The Last of Us multiplayer was "on ice" amid layoffs at Naughty Dog. The following month, the game director on the multiplayer game said he was still working on it, but all that has surely ended now with Naughty Dog's very public cancellation. 

You can read up on our upcoming PS5 games for a look at all the games still on Sony's schedule for the next year and beyond. 

Hirun Cryer
Hirun Cryer
Freelance Writer

Hirun Cryer is a freelance reporter and writer with Gamesradar+ based out of U.K. After earning a degree in American History specializing in journalism, cinema, literature, and history, he stepped into the games writing world, with a focus on shooters, indie games, and RPGs, and has since been the recipient of the MCV 30 Under 30 award for 2021. In his spare time he freelances with other outlets around the industry, practices Japanese, and enjoys contemporary manga and anime.