It’s always saddening to talk about cancellations of great concepts, and we must admit it stung a little when Sony pulled the plug on the standalone multiplayer The Last of Us entry. The thought of rounding up our buddies to take on in the infected in an online setting based on Naughty Dog’s acclaimed franchise seemed too good to be true. It’s one of those instances where we wish we were wrong.
In a recent interview with the Lance E. Lee Podcast from Tokyo (transcription via Kotaku), the game’s former director, Vinit Agarwal, spoke out about how its cancellation and the disappointment he felt at learning it was being cancelled, especially after spending so much time on it.
“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.”
Stating that it was “around 80% complete”, he seems to have empathy for Nought Dog’s decision to move in a safer direction with whatever Neil Druckmann was cooking up at the time.
“Basically, at one point, a decision had to be made. ‘Okay, make this game or make the next game that Neil Druckmann was directing, the president of the company…They had to pick the game that was kind of the bread and butter of the studio rather than this experimental game that I was working on that I believe was going to be really big, but unfortunately couldn’t see the light of day.”
Agarwal has since landed on his feet, founding a new studio and working on a title that seems to be making good use of all the lessons he learned during his time working on The Last of Us Online. While details are still under wraps, we’re hoping that those lessons bring some familiar elements, and perhaps even a dash of familiarity for what could have been.
