Naughty Dog Axes The Last Of Us Multiplayer For PS5, Can You Guess Why?
The studio, established in 1994 and exclusive to PlayStation, added that it understood that the fanbase would be disappointed, but also expressed its own disappointment in having to come to the decision to end production on its latest The Last of Us spinoff into online gaming. “We’re equally crushed at the studio as we were looking forward to putting it in your hands.”
The online multiplayer game began pre-production at the same time Naughty Dog was working on The Last of Us Part II. The multiplayer team made it known then that its “vision crystallized.” However, as the game began ramping up, the studio said “the massive scope of our ambition became clear.” It understood that in order to support such a mammoth undertaking, it would have to put all the studio’s resources behind it for years to come.
The revelation also brought with it the realization that it would also take a great deal away from its focus on single-player games. At that point, the studio had to decide whether it wanted to be a “solely live service games studio or continue to focus on single-player narrative games that had defined Naughty Dog’s heritage.”
The good news in all of this, however, is that Naughty Dog will take all that it has learned and the investments in technology it has made during the production of The Last of Us Online and use it to make better single-player games in the future. It also means that all the games it creates moving forward will have the studio’s full attention and resources in assuring those games continue to live up to the standard fans have come to expect.
Naughty Dog also gave its fans a bit of a tease, remarking, “We have more than one ambitious, brand new single player game that we’re working on here at Naughty Dog, and we cannot wait to share more about what comes next when we’re ready.” There is no doubt fans are already more than ready to hear all about it.
