The Last of Us PS5 multiplayer spin-off gets triple blast of bad news

The Last of Us multiplayer spin-off for PS5 has reportedly fallen on hard times, according to a trio of updates from developer Naughty Dog and Sony.

Lee Brady

Published 30 Oct 2024

It looks like those The Last of Us Part I trophies might have to sustain fans for a little longer than expected, as a trio of recent updates spells bad news for Naughty Dog's PS5 The Last of Us multiplayer spin-off. Even with a development timeline dating back to at least 2018, it doesn't seem like this title will be joining our best PS5 games list anytime soon.

The Last of Us multiplayer spin-off delayed by Naughty Dog

Following an outcry from fans disappointed that we didn't see the long-gestating The Last of Us PS5 spin-off among all the new games at the PlayStation Showcase 2023, Naughty Dog took to Twitter to deliver the bad news: the multiplayer The Last of Us spin-off had been delayed.

"We're incredibly proud of the job our studio has done thus far, but as development has continued, we've realized what is best for the game is to give it more time," the statement from Naughty Dog reads. "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."

The last thing we had heard from the game's development was The Last of Us PS5 multiplayer's door update back in February 2023 — a small glimpse into the studio's challenges promptly followed by radio silence. Attention is instead being placed on Naughty Dog's next game, which makes sense after another report revealed that The Last of Us multiplayer spin-off's development team was allegedly downsized.

Naughty Dog's statement.

Bungie puts doubts on The Last of Us multiplayer spin-off's future

Shortly after Naughty Dog's statement hit Twitter, a Bloomberg report was published claiming that development on The Last of Us multiplayer spin-off had been slowed and the dev team had been scaled back. A number of staff were reportedly reassigned to other projects within Naughty Dog.

Allegedly, Sony's new board of live-service quality control — helmed by none other than Destiny 2 developer Bungie — evaluated the project and "raised questions" over its "quality and long-term viability." Sony announced plans for Bungie to act as its live-service quality assurance team as far back as May 2022, and if the Bloomberg report is accurate, then it would appear not even Naughty Dog are exempt from this new initiative.

Back in 2018, Naughty Dog co-game director Vinit Agarwal stated that the studio was "aggressively hiring" for the project, and as late as November 2022 there was speculation that designer Anders Howard had joined the The Last of Us multiplayer spin-off team to bring Fortnite design experience to the game. Now it seems this "aggressive" initiative is being reined in, and the consequences might have affected one of Sony's other studios.

The last piece of concept art shared from the project.

PS Studio layoffs may be connected to The Last of Us multiplayer delay

Around the time The Last of Us multiplayer game was delayed, one of the most versatile teams of the current PlayStation Studios roster, PlayStation Visual Arts (PSVA), was reportedly hit with layoffs. This comes via the LinkedIn post of ex-PSVA developer John Borba, who suggests the layoffs come following "a large pivot on the AAA multiplayer game" his team had been working on.

It had previously been announced that PSVA had joined Naughty Dog in the development of its next game, though the specific project the team has been hired to work on was not revealed. While we can't definitively confirm that the shifts at Naughty Dog led to layoffs at PSVA, the connection between the two studios and Borba's comments would suggest this is the case.

Bolba's LinkedIn post.

Together, the three reports together would suggest that The Last of Us multiplayer spin-off is far from finished and no longer as high a priority for Naughty Dog as it once was, meaning a PS5 release might be a considerable ways off. What do you make of all the rough news? Still hopeful this project will come to fruition on PS5? Let us know your thoughts down in the comments below.

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Written by Lee Brady

News Editor Lee covers the latest upcoming PS5 games like Ghost of Yotei while making sure PlayStation Plus’ classic PS1 and PS2 games are given enough respect. Lee leads the charge on our original data analysis courtesy of GameInsights. His 25 years of PlayStation experience compliments his love of Final Fantasy, Kingdom Hearts, and Sonic the Hedgehog.