The Last of Us Online developers celebrate their canceled game: “it’s absolutely been the highlight of my career”

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Naughty Dog developers look back at what could have been

The Last of Us
(Image credit: Naughty Dog)

Following The Last Of Us Online’s cancellation earlier this week, current and former developers from Naughty Dog have emerged to celebrate the mysterious multiplayer project.

Studio Naughty Dog canceled its untitled multiplayer spin-off after nearly four years of work, claiming the project would require too many development resources and detract from its upcoming single-player projects. In a recent statement, the studio claimed its options were to become a “solely live service games studio,” or continue pushing out games such as Uncharted and The Last Of Us - which itself had an unexpectedly great multiplayer mode in Factions. 

Technical designer Nathaniel Ferguson said working on the game has “absolutely been the highlight of my career, and will always be a very special project for me,” in a social media post. “A sad day, but very bright horizons ahead for sure,” he continues.

Game designer Karl Morley teased that he “had more fun playing this game than any other [multiplayer] game before and since” - a tantalizing tease for a game that we’ll probably never get to play. 

“It’s never easy to have a game canceled, but I’m so proud of my studio and everything we accomplished on this project,” dialogue director Kat McNally writes on social media, “big shoutout to my combat QA and dialogue teams.” 

Seeing any game get canned is a shame, especially when it’s a possible follow-up to something as unique as Factions. But the overriding sentiment from The Last Of Us Online’s former developers has been optimistic about the studio’s future, which includes more than one “ambitious” single-player endeavor, according to the studio. 

Check out the other upcoming PS5 games to see what else is on the horizon. 

Kaan Serin
Freelance contributor

Kaan freelances for various websites including Rock Paper Shotgun, Eurogamer, and this one, Gamesradar. He particularly enjoys writing about spooky indies, throwback RPGs, and anything that's vaguely silly. Also has an English Literature and Film Studies degree that he'll soon forget.