For some time now, the multiplayer project The Last of Us Online asked questions. Between the lack of communication around the title and the recent layoffs from Naughty Dog, it was difficult to see how the project could be brought to fruition.
It is therefore without great surprise that we learn of the cancellation of
The Last of Us Online. Indeed, Naughty Dog believes that it does not have the capacity for its ambitions for the game. According to them, the multiplayer title would require far too many resources for its development as well as to produce post-launch content. Resources that the studio prefers to allocate to single-player narrative games.
But if this justification partly holds water, it’s hard to believe that Naughty Dog took so long to understand the magnitude of the task that awaited it with such a multiplayer game. Even more so when the project had already been frozen for several weeks. And while layoffs continue everywhere, including at Naughty Dog, concern remains for the project team which now finds itself in the hot seat.
It remains to be seen what this cancellation means for the objectives that Sony Interactive Entertainment set for itself regarding game services. We recall that the company announced last November that it would reduce its scope regarding the number of games services planned by March 2026. At the time, Sony then specified that The Last of Us Online was not canceled but only postponed. And if things have been able to change so much in such a short time, one wonders if other planned games will simply fall by the wayside. But only the future will tell us.