The cancelled The Last of Us Multiplayer project consumed the majority of Naughty Dog’s development workforce and cost Sony hundreds of millions of dollars before its termination in 2023. According to reporting from Bloomberg’s Jason Schreier, the live-service initiative started as a small-scale companion mode before expanding massively in scope, ultimately getting shelved as Sony reassesses its broader multi-franchise live-service strategy.
From Modest Side Mode to Massive Live-Service Pivot
When Naughty Dog shipped the original The Last of Us game, its online component featured a multiplayer loop that was not the focus of the experience. The studio redirected most of its internal resources toward scaling up The Last of Us Multiplayer into a standalone, continuously supported live-service product.
Players were meant to navigate a persistent online space featuring player-versus-player combat intertwined with swarms of Cordyceps-infected enemies. Behind closed doors, development ballooned. Sony poured hundreds of millions of dollars into the initiative.
The Ripple Effects Across PlayStation’s Live-Service Strategy
The collapse of Naughty Dog’s multiplayer venture sits within a broader wave of strategic retreats across Sony’s first-party studios. The commercial implosion of Concord demonstrated the perils of forcing traditional single-player or unproven live-service frameworks onto the market. Meanwhile, internal projects like Horizon Hunters Gathering required sweeping internal reboots following negative feedback.
Sony executives have steadily walked back expectations for deploying simultaneous live-service games across every major flagship franchise.
Naughty Dog’s Shift Toward Narrative Horizons
With the multiplayer experiment permanently archived, Naughty Dog has redirected its engineering and creative horsepower toward single-player territory. The studio is actively developing Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet.
Despite the studio pivoting forward, the fallout from the multi-year detour remains a sore point for the community. Fans have faced a drought between major releases, with years passing since the studio’s last major drop.
