Naughty Dog Shifts Focus to Single-Player Games, Cancels The Last Of Us Multiplayer

Naughty Dog has confirmed that its multiplayer project for The Last of Us, referred to as The Last of Us Online internally, has been canceled. The studio stated in a blog post that the size and scope of the game's ambitions would require the full attention of the team, potentially taking away from the development of narrative-driven single-player games. The studio faced the choice between focusing on solely live service games or continuing to prioritize the single-player narrative games that have been its hallmark.

The future of The Last of Us Online has been uncertain for some time. Earlier this year, Bloomberg reported a slowdown in the project's development, with many developers moving to other projects within the studio. Naughty Dog responded with a statement online, expressing pride in the work done so far and confirming the development of a new single-player game.

In October, Kotaku reported that Naughty Dog had laid off approximately two dozen contractors, stating that The Last of Us multiplayer project was "essentially on hold at this point." The game was previously set to be one of several multiplayer games from Sony, as the typically story-driven publisher sought to compete in the bustling live-service market. However, recent reports indicate that Sony has significantly reduced its expected output in that area, cutting in half its number of in-development live-service games planned to debut in March 2026 or sooner.

It's unclear exactly which other games have been pushed out of that window or canceled outright, and it's quite likely some of them were never announced in the first place.

Editor's P/S

As a Gen Z fan, I'm disappointed by the news that Naughty Dog has canceled The Last of Us multiplayer. I was really looking forward to playing it and experiencing the world of The Last of Us from a different perspective. I understand that the studio wants to focus on single-player games, but I think it's a shame that we won't get to see the multiplayer game that they had planned.

I'm also concerned about the future of multiplayer games in general. It seems like more and more studios are shifting their focus to single-player experiences, and I worry that this will leave multiplayer fans out in the cold. I hope that Naughty Dog and other studios will continue to support multiplayer games, even if they're not as profitable as single-player games.