Remember when Naughty Dog actually made games? Me neither.
I guess it’s back to the usual slurry of cinematic story-driven slop instead of grotesque online-only microtransactional experiences for Naughty Dog as they and Sony Interactive Entertainment have formally announce that the The Last of Us Online project has been scrapped.
The online project for The Last of Us, which was announced years ago, has faced multiple delays. Despite Naughty Dog’s persistent assurances that the project was still in progress, they have now made the decision to cease development on the title, a very likely reason would be a ballooning budget needed for the project, given how Naughty Dog recently siphoned upwards of $200 Million dollars during the development of the critically banned sequel to The Last of Us.
Perhaps the issue lies in the fact that neither Naughty Dog nor, for that matter, Insomniac Games, truly understand how to create games with a primary focus on actual enjoyment and gameplay, opting instead to force cinematic, movie-like experiences into their projects.
This theory of lack of gameplay makes more sense as outlined in a blog post on the official Naughty Dog site, the studio pointed to the “challenges” posed by developing a continuous multiplayer title, citing its potential impact on their commitment to creating single-player games.
The blog post details the origins of the project and the rationale behind Naughty Dog’s decision to discontinue it.
“The multiplayer team has been in pre-production with this game since we were working on The Last of Us Part II, crafting an experience we felt was unique and had tremendous potential.
As the multiplayer team iterated on their concept for The Last of Us Online during this time, their vision crystalized, the gameplay got more refined and satisfying, and we were enthusiastic about the direction in which we were headed.”
A studio that has downgraded itself into making scripted movie-like games over the past decade seemingly cannot do action-oriented games anymore, the project wasn’t canceled so that Naughty Doug could continue making cinematic piles of garbage rather it was most certainly dropped due to its developmental hell and the growing costs associated with modern games.
Naughty Dog appears more than willing to repackage the same progressive narrative in a short span of three years, as seen with Neil Druckmann’s handling of the Uncharted franchise with its fourth installment.
Druckmann’s decisions, such as overhauling Amy Hennig’s work, leading the studio into crunch time as he conjured up a woeful script for Uncharted 4 was notorious. Over the past ten years, Naughty Dog has “remastered” the original The Last of Us twice, released the Uncharted Legacy of Thieves collection, and now intends to recycle The Last of Us 2.
Rather than investing tens of millions, if not over a hundred million dollars, in developing an unsuccessful online project based on The Last of Us franchise, Naughty Dog’s resources could have been better utilized by integrating the “Factions” mode from the original The Last of Us into its sequel. However, the studio was clearly focused on generating a passive income through a live service title instead.
And now it’s canceled.
But of course, the Naughty Dog of today doesn’t understand the meaning of the word “fun” and “engaging”, with the progressive woke activist getting so high off his own supply he genuinely does not understand what makes a modern game engaging outside of being different from a theatrical film experience where the player merely moves the thumbstick forward as they listen to NPC dialog.
Sony might not be achieving the anticipated return on investment with The Last of Us Online. This speculation raises questions about the seemingly prompt release of a “remaster” for The Last of Us 2, even though it is fully playable on the PlayStation 5.
Despite the announcement in 2021, Naughty Dog has yet to provide any insight or preview into this elusive online multiplayer version of The Last of Us, obviously because Druckmann himself is a stuck up feminist, their Twitter post in regards to the announcement has had its replies locked. Obviously in an attempt to avoid ridicule and criticism.
Despite three years of purported “development,” there’s been a conspicuous absence of any gameplay or teaser trailers, or even sneak peeks. Instead, all we’ve seen is concept artwork. Given the hefty development cost of The Last of Us 2, exceeding $200 million, I for one hope that Sony’s investment in this online-only project was maximized.
