The latest PlayStation Showcase disappointed many fans awaiting major announcements from the company’s first-party studios. Still, it ended up receiving little in that area during the hour-long presentation. One of the complaints was that studios like Naughty Dog were not seen. The studio has issued a statement on social media about how its multiplayer The Last of Us game will need “more time” (seen below). The messaging of this update—which teases a new single-player game—comes right when a Bloomberg report comes in to look behind the curtain, revealing the internal issues developing the multiplayer Last of Us game, Factions.
The Last of Us multiplayer that will be the next installment in the franchise has faced a “scaled down” development team as the studio “reassesses the game.” Many of these decisions came from some expert opinions from Destiny developer Bungie, who was brought in to evaluate the game. When red flags were raised about how the game would maintain a player base, Naughty Dog had to shift gears to get in on the right path. The people who were removed from the project were put onto other projects, most likely including this mysterious new single-player game.
Naughty Dog Faces Issues With The Last of Us Multiplayer Game, Factions
— Naughty Dog (@Naughty_Dog) May 26, 2023
Not much is known about this standalone multiplayer experience for The Last of Us fans. The first game had a popular online mode, but this is set as its own game. While we have received concept art, the concept is unknown. The company has made it clear that it will be “rooted” in the studio’s “passion for delivering incredible stories, characters, and gameplay.”
The studio will have additional motivation to get The Last of Us multiplayer standalone game right. Alongside being new territory to have an online game not attached to one of its AAA single-player experiences, it has been hit with a poor port of The Last of Us Part 1 to PC. The disastrous port was a failure in quality that counters what the studio has built in its history for having some of the highest standards for its projects under the PlayStation umbrella.