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Report: The Last of Us Multiplayer Game Development Slowed Down, New Single Player Game Coming

Naughty Dog seemingly responded to the claims on Twitter.

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Development on the upcoming The Last of Us multiplayer game from Naughty Dog has reportedly been slowed and scaled down.

According to Bloomberg, the game has not been canceled but many of its developers were moved to other projects within Naughty Dog. Destiny developer Bungie, which Sony acquired last year, reportedly evaluated and questioned about Naughty Dog's multiplayer game and its ability to keep players engaged for long periods of time. As a result, the project was reassessed.

The project has been in development for at least four years and was originally intended to be part of The Last of Us Part II. However, it became more ambitious and was ultimately turned into its own game.

Naughty Dog seemingly responded to Bloomberg's report on Twitter, saying, "We're incredibly proud of the job our studio has done thus far, but as development has continued, we've realized what is best for the game is to give it more time." Additionally, the studio is working on a new separate title.

Naughty Dog continued: "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."

Back in January, Naughty Dog teased that it would share more information about The Last of Us multiplayer game later this year. It's unclear whether this delay will have an impact on its reveal.

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hardwenzen

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Edited By hardwenzen

Something is up with Sony. Nothing is being announced, they have trouble releasing a multiplayer portion of a game from 3 years ago, and that Jim Ryan wants to go full live service.

I never signed for this shitfest.

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EastLand

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@hardwenzen: They're turning a bit Microsofty

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hardwenzen

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@eastland said:

@hardwenzen: They're turning a bit Microsofty

Not yet. At least they still have good management, not the shitshow that's at MS.

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BDRTFM

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@hardwenzen: Big Head Syndrome.

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hardwenzen

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@bdrtfm said:

@hardwenzen: Big Head Syndrome.

The biggest you will see in your whole career.

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chriss_m

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@hardwenzen said:

Something is up with Sony. Nothing is being announced, they have trouble releasing a multiplayer portion of a game from 3 years ago, and that Jim Ryan wants to go full live service.

I never signed for this shitfest.

This is just what happens when one player dominates the market. They don’t need to try.

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hardwenzen

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@chriss_m said:
@hardwenzen said:

Something is up with Sony. Nothing is being announced, they have trouble releasing a multiplayer portion of a game from 3 years ago, and that Jim Ryan wants to go full live service.

I never signed for this shitfest.

This is just what happens when one player dominates the market. They don’t need to try.

That is indeed the biggest problem that can happen.

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ID0ntKn0w7

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@hardwenzen: i checked, and the sky isn't falling.

Naughty Dog games take a long time to develop. They just announced a lot.

I told you this strain makes you paranoid. You need to get some new shit

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hardwenzen

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Edited By hardwenzen
@id0ntkn0w7 said:

@hardwenzen: i checked, and the sky isn't falling.

Naughty Dog games take a long time to develop. They just announced a lot.

I told you this strain makes you paranoid. You need to get some new shit

ND games take a long time OK. How about literally everyone else from Sony? All the excluside games that did come out were the games that were announced back when the ps4 was the main system from Sony. Its soon to be 3 years since the ps5 launched, and what games were announced during the ps5 period? Lets see that paranoia thing you're talking about.

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ID0ntKn0w7

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@hardwenzen: yeah, I really don't keep track of the precise window of a game's announcement in relation to the precise window of its release.

I'm fairly certain that Wolverine, FF7 Rebirth, and Stellar Blade were all announced since the PS5's release. The last couple of years have given us a lot of kick-ass games, including some killer exclusives, one of which came out at the end of the year. They're also mainstreaming VR. That doesn't sound like a shitfest to me

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hardwenzen

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Edited By hardwenzen
@id0ntkn0w7 said:

@hardwenzen: yeah, I really don't keep track of the precise window of a game's announcement in relation to the precise window of its release.

I'm fairly certain that Wolverine, FF7 Rebirth, and Stellar Blade were all announced since the PS5's release. The last couple of years have given us a lot of kick-ass games, including some killer exclusives, one of which came out at the end of the year. They're also mainstreaming VR. That doesn't sound like a shitfest to me

Wolverine is one. FF7R part 2 is expected since part one came out. Stellar Blade is a shitty Korean game that deserves zero attention.

They announced Wolverine in almost 3 years, and the game is still over a year from coming out. This is the current situation with Playstation. The "its fine" in a burning building gif is what's needed right now.

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ID0ntKn0w7

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@hardwenzen: has anybody ever told you you're very dramatic?

You want them to wait until a game is just about to come out to announce it? But I thought you wanted Sony to spill their load early with the announcements. Baby wants it now, I think you said. Or do you want all games to be completed within two years? God, I'd hate to hear you complain about rushed games. And why do you hate all Koreans? Seems unreasonable.

"I expected that one." You still got it. Do you still complain that you only got the twenty Christmas presents you asked for?

Baby wants exclusives. No one can touch them on that. Baby wants more exclusives announced, baby wants it now. Here are some examples of exclusives. No, baby didn't mean that one, baby was expecting that one anyway, and baby invents a racist reason to not like that one.

Disease and war and supply chain cluster****s have sent the global economy into a spiral, with companies shuttering and everyone panicking a countless delays, but baby still wants twenty polished, perfect AAA exclusives per year and as many announcements. If lofty promises are what you crave, you might give religion a try.

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Daidochus

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Edited By Daidochus

@hardwenzen: Well put man. People these days have forgotten the past years when we would get so many new announcements. Heck, every E3 for Sony was filled with announcements. Now people are happy to see Spiderman 2 gameplay (which plays and looks identical to the first game) It's fine my ass.

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GamerBum

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Why am I not surprised? I’ve been saying it for ages. ND are way overrated and TLOU and UC are two of the most overrated franchises of all time. Gameplay in those games is just ok. Average! Serviceable to the stories/narratives of the games.

Sounds like this pvp game is not that good. But I’m not surprised as ND’s MP PVP games in the past have been garbage!

And here was me thinking, well more hoping that they could make something to rival Gears PVP.

Oh well let’s hope they can make better gameplay than TLOU and UC in these new projects.

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blindbsnake

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Edited By blindbsnake

@gamerbum: "ND are way overrated and TLOU and UC are two of the most overrated franchises of all time..."

Uhm... no...

"Gameplay in those games is just ok. Average! Serviceable to the stories/narratives of the games."

Gameplay is perfect for the story/narrative. That's the main objective, the story and the narrative. Everything is there to amplify the experience.

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GamerBum

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Edited By GamerBum

@blindbsnake:

You just made my point.

‘Gameplay is perfect for the story/narrative. That’s the main objective, the story and the narrative’

Gameplay should be perfect for the gameplay not the story/narrative!

GAMEPLAY is king! You can have the best story, visuals, voice acting, animations etc but if the gameplay is mediocre it’s a mediocre game.

playstation needed a win at the time and the gaming media choose ND’s, UC and TLOU to give them that win.

Gears is STILL the benchmark 3PS especially on the MP, PVP its gameplay blows ND’s games out of the water.

There’s nothing quite like a 1v1 gnasher dual in gaming.

Out playing your opponent with better movement/wall bouncing and better accuracy is still so very satisfying in Gears!

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blindbsnake

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Edited By blindbsnake

@gamerbum: "You just made my point."

Trust me, I did not...

"Gameplay should be perfect for the gameplay not the story/narrative!"

Call of Duty gameplay would not fit in this type of game, so no, not every gameplay works. The gameplay has a very defined objective, to create more immersion in the narrative. That's why the control of weapons is not as precise ad in other games (just to point an example)...

"GAMEPLAY is king! You can have the best story, visuals, voice acting, animations etc but if the gameplay is mediocre it’s a mediocre game."

Unless you are playing a child game or a sport game you can use the inverse logic...LOL

Gameplay is not mediocre, it's good (not perfect), and it fits the games perfectly. Obviously the gameplay of the second game is quite better.

"playstation needed a win at the time and the gaming media choose ND’s, UC and TLOU to give them that win."

No my friend, the fans/gamers gave them the win. That's why TLOU and TLOU2 are on my top ten games, because both are superb games.

"Gears is STILL the benchmark 3PS especially on the MP, PVP its gameplay blows ND’s games out of the water."

Fine by me, you can play them all you want. I still prefer TLOU and TLOU2 ten times more... LOL Personal taste is as far as you can go... But I have to admit... beside single mode I don't give a crap...

"There’s nothing quite like a 1v1 gnasher dual in gaming."

For you I have no doubt, but you should not talk for everyone else...

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chriss_m

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@blindbsnake said:

@gamerbum: "ND are way overrated and TLOU and UC are two of the most overrated franchises of all time..."

Uhm... no...

"Gameplay in those games is just ok. Average! Serviceable to the stories/narratives of the games."

Gameplay is perfect for the story/narrative. That's the main objective, the story and the narrative. Everything is the there to amplify the experience.

They are absolutely overrated.

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blindbsnake

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@chriss_m: On the contrary... Especially the second one...

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Tiwill44

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@blindbsnake: Yeah I miss Uncharted 2. The more cheesy and lighthearted tone compared to recent ND titles made it more fun to me. It was a wild ride with so many iconic set pieces.

I do think the climbing parts of this formula where stuff breaks along the way has gotten stale, but it can be done right. As long as the environments are memorable and the pacing is good, it's fine. If it feels slow and uninteresting, it's bad.

The limited stealth has also likely aged poorly, but later games like The Last of Us had stuff like slowly pushing around boxes, which isn't much better.

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BearJustice

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@Tiwill44: Yeah I loved the combat in TLOU2 with how free flowing and realistic it felt but hated the never-ending platforming (oh no the way is blocked) and sidetracking. If they make a new one I'd like to see longer more expansive combat sections and possibly autopilot platforming/navigating lol

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USDevilDog

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@gamerbum: Hard disagree. The Last of Us mulitplayer Factions was an underrated gem. There's a reason why it still resonates today, especially Supply Raid mode. It's just that TLoU single player campaign was so celebrated that many people didn't even try out Factions. To be honest, I was looking forward to this game the most (along with a potential Bloodborne 2 announcement and a glimpse at Spider-man 2 gameplay) at Sony's showcase.

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perhaps turned to focus more on developing The Last of Us Part III. that would put its release around the same time as a 3rd Season of the HBO show. (2nd season likely in '25)

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davidb50100

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@acious: That's what I was thinking. It's clearly an unfinished story and HBO puts the pressure on getting Part 3 out sooner.

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blindbsnake

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@davidb50100: Actually, the way they finish part 2 would make an awesome ending to the story. Same could be applied to the end of the first game. The open ending is always a good way to finish a story that complex (based on emotions and connections)...

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ID0ntKn0w7

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@acious: there's no way they can develop a single player TLOU game by 2026. The last game was in development for seven years.

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Spartan_418

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@id0ntkn0w7: TLoU Part 2 didn't take them the entire seven years. Remember they made Uncharted 4 (another massive project) in between.

They don't seem to have any other huge new game in between Part 2 and Part 3, just some remakes and remasters. Unless there's something like a new IP that they haven't announced

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BoobyTrap

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@Spartan_418: on top of that, the remake of Part 1 was not even done by the same team. Much newer people led that project.

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BoobyTrap

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@id0ntkn0w7: I would say that it’s actually quite possible: they released Part 2 in 2020, it will have been over 6 years by the end of 2026. So it’s right there in the same ballpark.

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ID0ntKn0w7

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@boobytrap: if they had long since shifted almost all of their resources to a project that just a couple years ago Neil Druckmann had said he has no idea where to go with the story and that they wouldn't proceed until he did, with not a soul hearing about it and nary a rumor, maybe they could pull it off. I don't think they want to be as single-project as they have been in the past.

I'd kill for a third entry. But I think one that soon is a pipe dream. The third season of the show will focus on the back half of TLOU, according to Druckkman and Mazin.

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BoobyTrap

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@id0ntkn0w7: I would take many of their words on that with a grain of salt. It’s their cash cow, of course, they would be constantly working on it one way or another. He already stated that he had an outline for the third one a while ago, so…

Also, it doesn’t have to be released simultaneously with the events of the show. We already know that the next two seasons will cover Part 2. The third game will be released way before the corresponding season of the show.

I’m pretty sure they’ve been developing it for some time now. The question remains whether it’s their next major project or it’s done in parallel with a new IP with the latter taking the majority of their resources at the moment.

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It's laughable to me. Tlou mp was Soo good that all they needed was to expand the mp and give it more depth and add it to tlou2. They could of charged more for a mp version of the game, they didn't need to do what they are trying now or back whenever they started on that project.

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Spartan_418

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tbh I'm confused as to what's taking them so long.

Last of Us Part 2's mechanics were already good enough for a very solid multiplayer shooter, and sections of Part 2's single player maps could easily be cut and pasted and repurposed as multiplayer ones, with some minimal tweaking. Areas big enough for battle royale are already there

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analgrin

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@Spartan_418:

Don't be confused. The reason is precisely because they're not doing that. Your description has missed out one important thing that Neil said the game would be about. . Great story telling. He wants the multiplayer to be as cinematic and story driven as the single player game. That takes an awful long time to create and is pointless if gamers are just going to skip all the story parts just to get on with the fun stuff i.e. shooting and looting with mates.

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deactivated-65041d1fed7d0

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why even release its multiplayer game? lol

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Spartan_418

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Edited By Spartan_418

@majikayo666: Because The Last of Us 1 had good multiplayer. It wasn't a huge disruptive trendy phenomenon but it was praised and had a dedicated following.

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@Spartan_418: Dedicated tiny following.

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