Naughty Dog, the acclaimed developer of franchises like Uncharted and The Last of Us, has released a statement regarding its multiplayer title set in The Last of Us universe. In the post, the developer says the multiplayer project is taking longer than originally forecast, but softened the blow by announcing an unannounced single-player-centric game.
“We know many of you have been excited to learn more about our multiplayer game, The Last of Us,” the statement said. “We’re incredibly proud of the work our studio has done so far, but over the course of development we’ve realized that giving the game more time is what’s best for it. Our team will continue to work on the project.” as well as our other games in development, including a brand new single player experience; we look forward to sharing more soon. We’re grateful to our amazing community for your support – thank you for your passion for our games, it continues with us.”
The statement follows a report by Bloomberg that raised concerns about the stock’s development. According to the report, the development team has been downsized while studio management decides on a direction.
This multiplayer project was originally developed as a mode for The Last of Us Part II, similar to the multiplayer mode of the original The Last of Us. However, as the scope of both the single player campaign and multiplayer expanded, Naughty Dog decided to prioritize the single player campaign that was released in 2020. In June 2022, Naughty Dog announced that the multiplayer component was now a standalone project and shared a piece of concept art (above). Earlier this year, Naughty Dog released another new piece of concept art (below) and promised more details on the multiplayer standalone project later this year.
Naughty Dog’s latest brand new game, 2020’s The Last of Us Part II, received general reviews with a 93 on Metacritic but has proved controversial among gamers. Since then, Naughty Dog has released the Uncharted: Legacy of Thieves Collection, which includes remastered versions of Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End and Uncharted: The Lost Legacy, as well as The Last of Us Part I, a remake of The Last of Us and The Last of Us: Left Behind. Perhaps the biggest impact The Last of Us made in 2023 was the HBO series’ first season, starring Pedro Pascal and Bella Ramsey, which received critical acclaim.
There’s no word yet on when we’ll hear more from Naughty Dog on this multiplayer game or the single-player project mentioned in this statement, but since PlayStation Showcase doesn’t mention any of the studio’s projects this week, it could be a while before we learn essential details.
