Bungie reportedly expressed concerns over how engaging The Last of Us multiplayer project was
The multiplayer game has apparently been scaled back.
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Naughty Dog recently shared that its multiplayer The Last of Us game needed "more time," but a new report claims this happened at the suggestion of Bungie.
A multiplayer spinoff of The Last of Us has been in the works for a while now, with Naughty Dog confirming that it would be a stand-alone title last June. We haven't heard much about it since then, and Naughty Dog shared earlier this week that'll be a while longer before we hear anything more. In the style of those now classic apology/ delay announcement posts, the developer sort of leaned towards the latter in a recent Twitter post. "We know many of you have been looking forward to hearing more about our The Last of Us multiplayer game," opens the statement.
"We're incredibly proud of the job our studio has done thus far, but as development has continued, we've realised what is best for the game is to give it more time. 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."
But according to a followup report from Bloomberg, it doesn't sound like it was Naughty Dog itself that realised the game needed more time. According to Bloomberg, Sony has been asking Bungie (the Destiny developer that Sony acquired last year) to evaluate the various live service games the former currently has in development. Bungie apparently flagged some concerns over The Last of Us multiplayer gamer being able to "keep players engaged for a long period of time," resulting in the reassessment.
In turn, the team working on the project has apparently been scaled back, with a small group staying on while Naughty Dog reevaluates the direction. It should be noted the game hasn't been cancelled, but many of its developers are now on other projects. Of course, this does raise questions over whether Sony can release all 10 live service games it had planned to by 2026.