The inclusion of live-service elements in the game would have meant the end of the team’s single-player games
The Last of Us multiplayer project, dubbed The Last of Us Online internally by Naughty Dog, has been cancelled. The studio announced the news in a blog post citing the game’s ambitions as being so large that it would require the studio’s full attention, taking any part of the team away from narrative-driven single-player games, which have been Naughty Dog’s M.O. to this point.
“In ramping up to full production, the massive scope of our ambition became clear,” the statement reads. “To release and support The Last of Us Online we’d have to put all our studio resources behind supporting post-launch content for years to come, severely impacting development on future single-player games. So, we had two paths in front of us: become a solely live service games studio or continue to focus on single-player narrative games that have defined Naughty Dog’s heritage.”
The fate of The Last of Us Online has been uncertain for some time. Bloomberg reported wall earlier this year that development on the project had slowed, with many of its developers moving to other projects within the studio. Naughty Dog responded to the report in an online statement, saying it was “proud” of the work done thus far and also confirmed the development of a new single-player game.
According to a Kotaku report from October, Naughty Dog laid off approximately two dozen contractors. According to the same report, The Last of Us multiplayer is “basically on ice at this point.” The game was originally intended to be one of several upcoming multiplayer games from Sony, as the normally story-driven publisher seeks to compete in the crowded live-service space. But, just a few weeks ago, we learned that Sony had already drastically reduced its expected output in that area, cutting in half the number of in-development live-service games set to launch in March 2026 or sooner.