The notorious absence of the next The Last of Us game in the PlayStation Showcase has its reason: officially, Naughty Dog has announced that the multiplayer project it will take much longer than expected. Which is especially unique, since it didn’t even have an approximate release date. What’s more, we weren’t sure that it would be released this year either. What is happening?
To put us in situation: The Last of Us It is one of the priority and most valuable franchises on PlayStation (at the level of God of War or Uncharted), and since the beginning of 2023 also a television phenomenon through the very successful HBO television series. Needless to say, giving it a boost should be a priority for Sony. However, and according to statements to Bloomberg by studio workers, the immediate future of the saga need a change of address.
In other words: we know that Naughty Dog has right now two games in handbut we are no longer clear if the multiplayer of The Last of Us (which has been given the name The Last of Us Factions) will arrive before the one that is not announced yet.
A los Fans de The Last of Us
We know many of you can’t wait to hear more about The Last of Us’ new multiplayer title. We’re incredibly proud of the work our studio has done so far, but as development has continued we’ve realized that it’s best for the game to spend more time on it.
Our team will continue to work on the project, as well as other games currently in development including a single player title; we hope to share more information about it soon.
We are grateful to our fantastic community for their support. What drives us is the thanks for your passion for our games.
From here it is time to state the essential: if not too long ago the California study was full of praise for this step towards the player of The Last of Us, considering it literally the most ambitious video game they had ever made (big words), which was say openly that it will take much longer to see it is a real annoyance in the face of the expansion of a franchise on the rise. Above all, after the notorious stumble that was the debut of Joel and Ellie on PC.
Given this, Bloomberg’s Jason Schreier seems to have clear motives and reasons.
The Last of Us multiplayer wasn’t cancelled, but it won’t be that ambitious either
We do not know the degree of priority of the multiplayer of The Last of Us for Sony and the PlayStation brand, and it’s hard to tell without seeing more than just two pieces of concept artbut according to statements collected by Schreier, both the quality of the game and its own long-term viability are currently being reassessed.
Consequently, and until the new direction is clear, Sony has made the decision to stop its development. Meanwhile, and according to Bloomberg, Naughty Dog has begun to relocate several of those involved in the game to other projects.
To stop does not mean to cancel or stop, but to the multiplayer of The Last of Us will continue to be shaped at a slower pace to accommodate the changes and new approaches that the great project receives. And, by extension, this greatly conditions his output.
And that’s when Naughty Dog’s statement takes on nuances and new meaning.
By way of illustration, the multiplayer of The Last of Us It takes more than four years of development. Originally it was proposed as the traditional multiplayer mode that accompanies its games, in this case for The Last of Us: Part II, and -as in the case of Uncharted: The Lost Legacy- Naughty Dog’s ambition ended up going out of hand. hands to the point of converting to a complete game. More specifically, a game as a service.
And, in this specific case, the participation and opinion of Bungie – creators of Destiny – has had weight in the face of events.
Bungie’s experience is a new cog for the future of PlayStation
Reference for The Last of Us the HBO television series
Sony has built a well-deserved reputation for creating experiences single player (games to enjoy -or suffer- alone) but is fully aware that gaming as a service generates more revenue. Unless you have the magic of Nintendo, of course.
Offering titles that continue to generate additional revenue after release and whose commercial life spans years, rather than weeks, has saved and kept Ubisoft afloat and sustains giants like EA and Take Two. It is the raison d’être of Fortnite.
And we are not going to deny it: the cost of PlayStation ones exceeds that of blockbusters: God of War Ragnarok’s budget is very similar to that of the Avatar sequel. Seen this way, you have to sell many copies to keep that machine running and, furthermore, adapt to the times.
Arte de The Last of Us: Parte I
That is precisely where Sony’s latest major acquisition comes in to play: Bungie
Thus, and according to statements received from Bloomberg, the conclusions reached by Bungie regarding multiplayer The Last of Us and the way in which it could not work for a long period of time led to reassessment and, consequently, to the restructuring and rescaling of the game.
It’s not that Naughty Dog lacks experience when it comes to multiplayer. Rather the opposite: although it already unleashed our competitive nuance with Crash Team Racing on the original PlayStation, sagas like Uncharted y The Last of Us have offered secondary multiplayer modes. Although we are not going to deny it: these have always been in the shadow of the main experience.
Bad news for fans of The Last of Us? Not necessarily
Arte de The Last of Us: Parte I
The ninth generation of consoles It has brought many improvements to the players, such as the increasing standardization of cross-play or the use of technology such as ray tracing or spatial sound. However, they have also worryingly normalized to release games that could be played from start to finish but they were not finishedand even bland projects based on large franchises, but short-lived.
Let multiplayer be delayed The Last of Us It is not good news, but if it is to avoid those two scenarios, we all win.
Naughty Dog has diversified enormously. And despite the fact that no new game -properly speaking- has been released since The Last of Us, it hasn’t stopped either: in addition to the tuning of Uncharted and The Last of Us for PS5 and PC, it has been directly involved in its adaptations for film and television respectively.
Despite the fact that the immediate future of the exclusive PS5 titles for 2023 rests on the performance of Spider-Man 2 and the Square Enix franchises (including two great Final Fantasy) we cannot forget that it has gradually begun to expand and rethink its business model to adapt to the reality and consumption habits of the players.
Which is not at odds with the constant arrival of new remakes and remasters. own and third parties they do much more than buy additional time.
In any case, The Last of Us It is one of the current priorities of PlayStation even beyond the consoles themselves. And, by extension, that your multiplayer is a failure is not an option. . . . Neither for Sony, nor for Naughty Dog.
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