Naughty Dog Intended to Keep Working on The Last of Us Online

Almost a year before The Last of Us Part 2's release, Naughty Dog announced that the multiplayer mode initially planned for the game had progressed to a level where it had grown large enough to be a separate project, which would eventually be known as The Last of Us Online. Development on the live-service game went on for around four years, but at the end of 2023, it was announced that Naughty Dog had sadly decided to cancel The Last of Us Online. This was because developing the live-service title would consume Naughty Dog's resources and talent, essentially keeping it from making single-player games.

Finally, after Naughty Dog's canceled live-service title, The Last of Us Online, has drawn praise from ex-PlayStation executive Shuhei Yoshida. While the title won't be brought into existence, Yoshida's comments indicate Naughty Dog was developing a solid The Last of Us multiplayer game. The cancelation of The Last of Us Online was a sour pill to swallow for the years spent waiting to hear about the title.

Naughty Dog never officially revealed The Last of Us Online either, keeping its gameplay and overall scope a total mystery. But former head of PlayStation Indies Shuhei Yoshida revealed some new details about The Last of Us Online in a recent Sacred Symbols+ podcast episode. Yoshida mentioned that he had played The Last of Us Online and thought it was "Great", which isn't very descriptive but isn't all that surprising, given Naughty Dog's quality standard of games.

He continued to describe the development of The Last of Us Online, saying that the idea for the game was Naughty Dog's and that the studio "Really wanted to make it". However, Bungie's mid-2023 assessment of PlayStation's live-service lineup woke Naughty Dog up to the fact that The Last of Us Online's post-launch support would jeopardize the development of Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet, which Yoshida described as a "Lack of foresight". The executive also laid some rumors surrounding some public sentiments regarding PlayStation's live-service games to rest by confirming that Sony does not force its first-party studios to develop them.

Yoshida did say that it's common practice for studios to align their pitches with big company projects in the hopes of approval and support. It isn't easy to envision Naughty Dog would've done this, though, considering the studio has a significant amount of respect (and therefore independence) as far as creativity within PlayStation's first-party fold goes. With The Last of Us Online a distant memory these days and PlayStation's live-service initiative dwindling even smaller, Naughty Dog's future seems to be firmly planted in single-player experiences.