Fans of The Last of Us left the PlayStation Showcase empty-handed on Wednesday after expecting to hear something about a multiplayer version of the franchise, which has been discussed since 2018 and is expected to be shown sometime this year. On Friday, Naughty Dog more or less said that while the idea is still in development, it needs more time and has no release window in mind.
In a statement posted on Twitter, the studio didn’t say The Last of Us multiplayer game was being postponed indefinitely, nor did it say when or if this idea would actually come to PlayStation. “As development progressed, we realized that what’s best for the game is to give it more time,” the studio said.
According to a report by Bloombergwhich coincided with Naughty Dog’s statement (and appears to have led to its publication), the team working on The Last of Us multiplayer spin-off has been “tapered down following a recent review” and that “many of its developers have been transferred to other projects.”
Naughty Dog said the development of this multiplayer escape The last of us part 2, which was launched in 2020, will continue. It’s also working on “other games in development, including a new single-player experience.” That’s intriguing, as studio co-president Neil Druckmann said it was in January done with the Uncharted franchise (despite hints of a sequel there) and we moved on to new stuff.
Fans thought they’d hear something about the standalone, multiplayer adaptation of The Last of Us during Wednesday’s PlayStation Showcase, especially since it’s been talked about for so long and, of course, the series just got a huge star with a TV adaptation on HBO, which premiered in January and wrapped in March.
The original The last of us featured an online multiplayer component called Factions, featuring a variety of modes for up to eight players on reworked parts of the game’s campaign maps.