Naughty Dog has released a statement regarding The Last of Us multiplayer's PlayStation Showcase no show, amid rumours of a struggling development.
While the PlayStation Showcase was filled with several new game announcements including our first look at gameplay for Sony's own Marvel's Spider-Man 2, and a brand new PlayStation handheld in the form of Project Q. However, there was one first party title we were desperate to see from PlayStation and that was Naughty Dog's upcoming The Last of Us multiplayer project which was first announced all the way back in 2019. However the presentation came and went without even a hint of The Last Of Us.
Yet two days later, out of the blue Naughty Dog took to Twitter to comment on the absence of The Last Of Us Multiplayer saying "we've realised what is best for the game is to give it more time" seemingly delaying the title which never even had a release date in the first place. Before also confirming that the studio was working on a "brand new Single-player experience".
The timing seemed very random, however, just over half an hour later Bloomberg's Jason Schreier posted an article on the multiplayer title's woes, while commenting on his Twitter that Naughty Dog had been reached out to for comment for Schreier's article, and had posted it's own statement on Twitter ahead of the article being published.
The Bloomberg article claims that Naughty Dog and Sony has slowed down development on the project to "reassess its quality and long-term viability". The article goes on to say that many of the developers on the team making The Last Of Us Multiplayer have been assigned to other projects. However, the article also states that the project has not been cancelled despite only a small group remaining on the project.
The article goes on to say that Bungie – developers of Destiny 2 – were asked to evaluate a number of titles across Sony's portfolio, and had "raised questions about the The Last of Us multiplayer project’s ability to keep players engaged for a long period of time" which the article claims to have led to the reassessment.
Left behind
Personally, I really enjoyed the Factions multiplayer mode in the original The Last Of Us, and while I would've loved to see the mode return for The Last of Us Part 2, it may be too little too late at this point. Especially when Sony seems to have many live service titles in development now, such as Marathon, fairgame$, Concord, and the rumoured Twisted Metal reboot.
After the disastrous launch of the PS3, Sony built back up the PlayStation brand with a strong lineup of cinematic Single-player titles, with Naughty Dog leading the charge. Rather than trying to have their studios produce live service titles (which considering most players only play one or two of these games regularly) they should let Naughty Dog play to its strengths and focus on the type of titles that made it the world class developer it is today.
