TLOU Online (Factions) Officially Canceled

Read it and weep. Cows got Neil Cuckmann’d. They also locked their Twitter post down so no one can comment.

“We realize many of you have been anticipating news around the project that we've been calling The Last of Us Online. There's no easy way to say this: We've made the incredibly difficult decision to stop development on that game.

We know this news will be tough for many, especially our dedicated The Last of Us Factions community, who have been following our multiplayer ambitions ardently. We're equally crushed at the studio as we were looking forward to putting it in your hands. We wanted to share with you some background of how we came to this decision.

The multiplayer team has been in pre-production with this game since we were working on The Last of Us Part II - crafting an experience we felt was unique and had tremendous potential. As the multiplayer team iterated on their concept for The Last of Us Online during this time, their vision crystalized, the gameplay got more refined and satisfying, and we were enthusiastic about the direction in which we were headed.

In ramping up to full production, the massive scope of our ambition became clear. 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.

We are immensely proud of everyone at the studio that touched this project. The learnings and investments in technology from this game will carry into how we develop our projects and will be invaluable in the direction we are headed as a studio. 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.”

https://www.naughtydog.com/blog/an_update_on_the_last_of_us_online

at least they didn't release it in an unfinished state.. unlike certain games..

Yup! SONY loves it's fans of the #1 gaming console in the world-The PS5

Oh snap!

That’s gotta sting. All that time and money spent during its development. Got a funny feeling that there’s more to the story here.

What, you would've preferred they released a game like The Day Before?

Good to see Naughty understands the standards we expect them to live up to. Can't wait to see what they do next.

@Archangel3371: the more to the story - “we’re gonna release TLOU Part 1 remaster of the remake on the PS5 Pro and TLOU Part 2 remake on the PS5 Pro.”

I want this to create a shitstorm. It needs to happen. This is for the better good of Sony.

@Archangel3371: why are you all of a sudden concerned?

I don't think this is the flex you think it is.

@randy_lahey: I’m always concerned. 😎

And while this is the correct answer for canning it

"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."

Why the **** were you even spending years of development if you didn't want your team to spend years creating post launch content? This is what happens when you release a GaaS game, so how is it that they didn't knew this? Secondly, they do know that there's something something called multiplayer without the GaaS shi? Or is this a relic of the past that is forbidden to exist nowardays? Holy shit i am so triggered to what the multiplayer shooters have become since 2017.

In the first one, the multiplayer was a fun addition, but it wasn't really that great, so, when they announced a game that will only be multiplayer, i feared that it would be a gaas game that wouldn't live to anyone's expectations; so i'm kinda glad that they scraped it, hopefully no one loses their jobs and got to work in another project.

@Juub1990: it’s a cope, not a flex

What a bunch of idiots. Like I've said before they could of just released factions like they did in tlou and put a 10 or 20$ price on it and it would have been fine. The mp was that much fun to me.

The TL;DR version:

"We don't care about you, we want your money. And beancounters said there isn't enough money, so we are scrapping it".

I suppose you could sugar-coat this and argue they didn't want to be forced to compete with CoD and Fortnite, so they took the path of artistic integrity and scrapped it...but that might be giving a company that made a shit port and about fifty remakes/remasters/special editions too much credit.

*Also if there was ever proof that ND might be a one-trick pony, I think this is it.

Might be good news of something larger. Sony had 12 GaaS in development that were no doubt keeping their signature first party studios from delivering those signature single player experiences, perhaps SIE is throwing most of that out and getting their studios back to business as usual as quick as possible. Though could also be they are only doing this for Naughty Dog because they need them to get cracking on TLOU2 remaster PC port to follow rhe PS5 release then get cracking on TLOU2 remake to arrive just before the HBO season 2 release.

@mrbojangles25: they couldn’t “remaster/remake” this game like the rest so it provided no motivation

So much for Sony fannies saying "It is coming, just watch". 😂

I'm OK with them working on multiple single player experiences than just The Last of Us Online.

Like the Remaster?🙃

Welp. If it wasn't up to Naughty Gods standards then it is what it is. Some other companies should follow the same.

This is a huge blunder. Wtf have they been doing all this time? Was it that complicated to simply extend the tlou2 universe to multiplayer?

Seems like gross mismanagement

@Pedro:

Sure, why not.

A $10 upgrade for PS5 enhancements and a brand new rouguelike mode sounds like a deal to me.

It sounds like they are working on brand new games too so, that's great.

Probably the right call.

😂😂😂 ooof lol

Didn’t Scalebound get canceled and cows trampled all over the lems for it?

@randy_lahey: From what I understand, the game had campaign components with PvP and, PvE. It's wasn't just TDM or, Battle Royale. That's a huge undertaking for sure.

🤭

People concerned about my concern is very concerning. 🤔

😂

Incoming a rushed TLOU3

Guess they couldn’t figure out how to make an online multiplayer movie.

Naughty Dog needs a reboot.

@pyro1245: only way for that to happen is for Neil to be removed and that’s not happening. There will be a dark cloud over ND until he’s finally gone and they can hopefully get on the right track.

I for one think this is the right move and call. It's pretty clear some of us gamers didn't need yet another live-service game taking up the much crowded space and taking Naughty Dogs time as well cause the whole live-service thing is becoming a fad. So again, the right decision of a not so breaking news.

Focus on SP games is the right call👍

Nah a remaster of Way of the Warrior coming Q4 2025 🤣

@nnoyinghusband:

Totally agree. The druck man must go.

Naughty dog... Yikes. Creatively bankrupt. I do have to say glad they had the sense to not gouge their "buy anything" fans with a terrible game. They recognized that mp games is a poor direction for their company and they were likely poor at making the game.. If they weren't then we wouldn't be canceling it.

Being self aware and failing is better than ripping off your fans. I don't think naughty dog is the same studio but I'd love for them to prove me wrong with their next game.

Sony sucks at online, expected.

Seems more about cutting costs to me.

They've been working on this for years, why not outsource it to one of Sony's second party studios?

Was the game that bad that it was better to just scrap it?

@TheEroica: But they weren't self aware, Bungie came (from reports) in and looked at it and said it would fail, that's why it got canned.

I didn't even know this was still a thing. Hasn't this been vaporware for a while?

Good. This whole service game push needs to die of death.

Gonna be funny to see em try to sell the PS5Pro with absolutely no games ready to showcase what the new system is capable off of🤡

They said they'll be relying on third parties so probably GTA 6.

Clowns work at MS, and now at Sony as well.

This is the most important news.

"We have more than one ambitious, brand new single player game that we're working on here at Naughty Dog"

Naughty Gods about to remind y'all again why they are the best in the game.

Which I've been saying there's a possible for a GTA6/PS5 Pro bundle somewhere in 2025.

Earlier this year, my favorite studio, Arkane, released a little gem called Redfall. And by gem, I absolutely mean it was a freaking dumpster fire. They went from making incredibly unique single-player immersive sims to trying their hand at a live service game.

So, knowing that, and how terrible that game is, I have to say this is a great decision.

If they had tried to force it, I think the result would have been terrible. Sometimes it's useful to know when something should be delayed and also when it should be completely trashed. Yes, it was a waste of time and millions of dollars but at least it wasn't released as something they would "fix" over time.

That's just pathetic. Since when does Sony rely on third party to remain viable? I don't like what has happened to Sony holy shit Jimbo Ryan really is the Don Mattrick of Sony.