The Last of Us Part II Will Not Include Multiplayer, Naught Dog Provides Official Statement

The Last of Us was an outstanding single-player adventure, but the multiplayer was also surprisingly good. It offered an array of competitive modes that required the player to gather resources to build stronger weapons while keeping their camp alive. Those hoping for a new, updated multiplayer mode will be disappointed, as Naughty Dog confirmed that The Last of Us: Part II is single-player only.

Naughty Dog’s Lead Game Designer Emilia Schatz. “We’re focusing on a single-player experience, so we’re just making a single-player game for this,” Schatz told the publication when asked about multiplayer. Sony confirmed that The Last of Us Part II wouldn’t contain multiplayer and said, “Correct, it is a single-player game.”

Naughty Dog followed up on this with an official update stating:

An update regarding multiplayer: pic.twitter.com/CUd98LgJGC

— Naughty Dog (@Naughty_Dog) September 27, 2019

We wanted to address multiplayer in The Last of Us Part II. As we've stated, the single-player campaign is far and away the most ambitious project Naughty Dog has ever undertaken. Likewise. as development began on the evolutionof our Factions mode from The Last of Us Part 1, the vision of the team gew beyond on additional mode that could be included with our enormous single-player campaign. Wanting to support both visions, we made the difficult choice that The Last of Us Part II would not include an online mode.

However, you will eventually experience the fruits of our team's online ambition, but not as part of The Last of Us Part II. When and where it will be realized is still to be determined. But rest assured, we are as big a fan of Factions as the rest of our community and are excited to share more when it's ready.

So basically, the online mode that was being developed was scrapped because resources were limited. More time was dedicated to the single-player, which is fine. As the online systems developed will manifest in future projects, it should be interesting. They could release it as part of a brand new IP or maybe The Last of Us Part III.

The Last of Us: Part II launches for PS4 on February 21, 2020.