Report: The Last of Us Multiplayer Game Development Slowed Down, New Single Player Game Coming

Development on the upcoming The Last of Us multiplayer game from Naughty Dog has reportedly been slowed and scaled down.

According to Bloomberg, the game has not been canceled but many of its developers were moved to other projects within Naughty Dog. Destiny developer Bungie, which Sony acquired last year, reportedly evaluated and questioned about Naughty Dog’s multiplayer game and its ability to keep players engaged for long periods of time. As a result, the project was reassessed.

The project has been in development for at least four years and was originally intended to be part of The Last of Us Part II. However, it became more ambitious and was ultimately turned into its own game.

Naughty Dog seemingly responded to Bloomberg’s report on Twitter, saying, “We’re incredibly proud of the job our studio has done thus far, but as development has continued, we’ve realized what is best for the game is to give it more time.” Additionally, the studio is working on a new separate title.

Naughty Dog continued: “Our team will continue to work on the project, as well as our other games in development, including a brand new single-player experience; we look forward to sharing more soon.”

Back in January, Naughty Dog teased that it would share more information about The Last of Us multiplayer game later this year. It’s unclear whether this delay will have an impact on its reveal.