The Last of Us Spin-Off Cancelled Hours Before Reveal

The Last of Us spin-off game was cancelled close to the game's development completion, just hours before its big reveal.

In 2018, Naughty Dog announced that it had a standalone multiplayer game in the works, set in the same universe as The Last of Us. Anyone who played the criminally underrated Factions mode in the original game, as well as its PlayStation 4 remaster, would have likely been very excited by this news.

Following the announcement of The Last of Us multiplayer game, we had one or two updates to ease fans' concerns that it was still on the way. That was until December 2023, when it was abruptly cancelled. The reason being, is that it was apparently not up to standards and Naughty Dog wanted to focus on single-player experiences.

The multiplayer was set to be a spin-off to The Last of Us Part II, which was originally released on the PlayStation 4 in 2020, before being remastered on PS5 in 2024.

The Last of Us Multiplayer Launch Was Closer Than We Thought

As picked up by Kotaku, a developer who was working on The Last of Us multiplayer game not only claimed it was cancelled at 80% completion, but it was also cancelled 24 hours before its big reveal. Ouch!

During an interview with the YouTuber Lance. E. Lee, Vinit Agarwal, the director of the multiplayer game, said: “That was a devastating moment for me, because I spent seven years working on that game and it was soul-crushing.”

The Last of Us Fans React on Reddit

“I was very, very disappointed that this didn't come to fruition,” said Sewious. “I actually really liked the original multiplayer. And honestly, with all the upgraded mechanics in The Last of Us Part II, this could have been a ton of fun.”

“I think about The Last of Us Part II’s multiplayer all the time. It could've been truly incredible given how fantastic the main story's gameplay is. Factions in Part I was so underrated,” exclaimed sharper98.

“One of the biggest blunders of this generation for PlayStation,” declared Puzzled_Middle9386.

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It’s very unlikely that we’ll ever see The Last of Us multiplayer game revived, as much as we’d love to see it. The next game from Naughty Dog is Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet, expected to launch on PlayStation 5 in 2027.

You might be pleased to know that the last time I checked, the Faction’s multiplayer mode in The Last of Us Remastered is still functional, playable on PS5 and PS4.