TheLast of Usfranchise has been on a bit of a rollercoaster these last few years. The first season ofHBO’sLast of Usadaptationwas met with critical acclaim in early 2023, and it brought a whole new audience to the franchise.The Last of Us Part 2 Remasteredcame out about a year later, and while the game itself was great, it drew ire from some due to being yet another re-release for the series. The abrupt cancellation ofThe Last of Us' online project a month prior certainly didn’t help matters.
After three years of development,The Last of UsOnlinewas officially canceled in December 2023. A few months before, a report from Bloomberg suggested the live-service game was in trouble, with Sony reportedly tasking Bungie with assessing the project’s viability. In its official statement, Naughty Dog said it canceledThe Last of UsOnlineto focus on producing more single-player narrative games. While that’s probably the right decision,The Last of UsOnlineshouldn’t be forgotten about entirely.
The Last of Us Online Shouldn’t Be Left in the Dust Completely
A Multiplayer Mode Was Sorely Missed in The Last of Us Part 2
The originalLast of Usreleased all the way back in 2013, an era in which the vast majority of AAA single-player games also came packaged with a multiplayer offering. Though it hasn’t become quite as world-renowned as the game’s campaign,The Last of Us' Factions multiplayer modewas a cut above the rest of the era’s supplementary multiplayer modes, offering a refreshingly grounded and brutal experience.
Naughty Dog originally had plans to include a Factions mode successor inThe Last of Us Part 2at launch. But just before it shipped, the developer stated thatThe Last of Us Part 2’s multiplayeroffering had exceeded its original scope and would no longer be part of the 2020 title. In 2022, fans were told the mode had been expanded into a fully-fledged standalone multiplayerLast of Usgame, and the rest is history.
For fans ofThe Last of Us' Factions mode,The Last of Us Online’s cancellation was particularly disappointing, as many had been waiting for a decade for a newLast of Usmultiplayer experience. But all hope might not be lost just yet.
A Potential Last of Us Part 3 Should Include a Multiplayer Mode
Over the last year or so,Naughty Dog’s Neil Druckmannhas made a few slightly contradictory statements regardingThe Last of Us' future. Most recently, Druckmann said in an interview with the Sacred Symbols podcast that “with the right opportunity, with the right idea, yeah, I would totally jump at [the chance to makeThe Last of Us Part 3].” So there’s a possibility a thirdLast of Usinstallment could happen, and if that possibility becomes reality, it’d be great to see a new multiplayer mode.
Naughty Dog could take the foundations of itscanceled live-serviceLast of Usgameand use those building blocks to create a much smaller and more finite multiplayer experience that doesn’t need a ton of work to maintain. This would finally give Factions fans the fresh experience they’ve been seeking while still giving Naughty Dog plenty of room to develop other single-player projects.
