While The Last of Us Online may have been cancelled back in December 2023, former director of the project, Vinit Agarwal, has revealed that he continues to get messages from former colleagues who worked on the title that it was “the best multiplayer game they’ve ever played.” In a social media post, he went on to thank his former colleagues for their support.
“It’s wild how many of my ex-colleagues still message me today saying how amazing TLOU Online was going to be — still the best multiplayer game they’ve ever played. Never going to let what I work on not see the light of day again. Thank you all for your support and confidence!”
The title was cancelled a couple of years ago, and in a statement, Naughty Dog mentioned that the studio wouldn’t have been capable of properly offering post-launch support for the multiplayer game.
“The multiplayer team has been in pre-production with this game since we were working on The Last of Us Part 2 – crafting an experience we felt was unique and had tremendous potential,” Naughty Dog wrote. “As the multiplayer team iterated on their concept for The Last of Us Online during this time, their vision crystallized, the gameplay got more refined and satisfying, and we were enthusiastic about the direction in which we were headed.”
“In ramping up to full production, the massive scope of our ambition became clear. To release and support The Last of Us Online, we’d have to put all our studio resources behind supporting post-launch content for years to come, severely impacting development on future single-player games. So, we had two paths in front of us: become a solely live service games studio or continue to focus on single-player narrative games that have defined Naughty Dog’s heritage.”
Agarwal had mentioned earlier this month that The Last of Us Online was around “80% complete” by the time it was cancelled. He called the moment devastating and “soul-crushing”, since he had worked on the project for seven years, only to never see it get a release.
“That was a devastating moment for me because I spent seven years working on that game, and it was soul-crushing. I remember honestly finding out that it was getting cancelled 24 hours before it was announced to the public. That’s how I found out about the game getting cancelled, and it was just unfortunate, and they had to do that because they have to control the messaging.”
Despite this, however, he expressed empathy for the decision made by Naughty Dog, noting that the company had to pick between continuing to support The Last of Us Online or work with Neil Druckmann on his next project – Intergalactic.
Former technical designer on the project, Nathaniel Ferguson, had also praised The Last of Us Online, calling it the “highlight” of his entire career. He said that it “will always be a very special project for me.”
More recently, Microsoft Game Studios co-founder Laura Fryer discussed the cancellation and called it a good thing, while also noting that the management of the project was quite poorly handled.
