The Last of Us Online Was “the Highlight of My Career” – Technical Designer

After several years in development, Naughty Dog recently confirmed that it has officially ended development on The Last of Us Online, and in the wake of the developer’s cancellation, a number of developers who worked on the project have taken to social media to talk about their experience with the game- and it all seems overwhelmingly positive.

For instance, technical designer Nathaniel Ferguson, who had been working on The Last of Us Online since February 2022, called the project the “highlight” of his career, saying that it “will always be a very special project for me”. Meanwhile, game designer Karl Morley – who is currently at fellow first party PlayStation studio Firesprite – said that he “learned more on this project than any other in my career and had more fun playing this game than any other multiplayer game before and since.”

Several other developers who worked on the project also posted about it in the wake of its cancellation, including former QA lead Drew Wilson, associate producer Abigail Tan, and others.

A recent leaked image showcased The Last of Us Online’s main menu screen, portraying a player character seated in an indoor environment, with options displayed on-screen for an in-game store, battle pass, and more.

Though The Last of Us Online has been cancelled, Naughty Dog has confirmed that it’s currently working on multiple single player narrative-driven games.

I worked on this from the time I was hired in Feb 2022 until yesterday, it's absolutely been the highlight of my career, and will always be a very special project for me. So it goes.

A sad day, but very bright horizons ahead for sure. https://t.co/WftyptMRC9

— Natty 🇵🇸 (@ngmferguson) December 15, 2023

Absolutely gutted. And gutted for all the awesome people I worked with on this.

I learned more on this project than any other in my career and had more fun playing this game than any other MP game before and since. https://t.co/EEs1RYH5wc

— Karl Morley (@SheepGoMOO) December 15, 2023

There was a great QA team behind this project that really knew their stuff and gave it their all for years. Really sad to hear this won’t see the light of day BUT I’m very excited to see what’s next 🐾 https://t.co/TUA15aVWtv

— Drew (@_drewilson) December 15, 2023

i’m incredibly devastated by this news, but i couldn’t be more proud of the team for all the hard work and determination put into this project ❤️ loved every minute working on this project. long live the last of us online https://t.co/HjFaAgFkL7

— abby (@abbyistan) December 15, 2023