• Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.

The Last of Us Online has been cancelled

PlayStation should focus on developing and expanding their single player story driven narrative games, as that’s what brought them success during the PS4 era. Their reputation is now for making some of the best narrative campaign games on the market.

If they’re really going to focus on online multiplayer, they really need to dig into their history and bring back modern versions and recreations of SOCOM, Twisted Metal, Killzone, Syphon Filter, Resistance, etc —these are franchises that can easily support online multiplayer communities if executed right.
 

rkofan87

Gold Member
Future not looking hot for Naughty Dog.

Kids these days play mostly GAAS titles.

Both Nintendo and Naughty Dog in this race of who becomes irrelevant faster.

Naughty Dog is sure gonna win this one though, thanks to ballooning dev budgets and collapsing sales.
the big n irrelevant??????????????????????????????????????????/////
 

killatopak

Member
Sad for those who want it.

Never played factions 1 and will probably never play this as well anyway so no skin off my back.
 
My two cents on what Naughty Dog should do from here.

1. Release a new IP as soon as they can. Doesn't have to be a game as long as Part 2 or your God of Wars. Even a Lost Legacy length Game would be good.

2. Release TLOU Part 3 by the end of Gen.

3. Consolidate as much work as possible from the cancelled Factions game and include it as a multiplayer mode in Part 3. This is the most important step. Losing all that work should not be an option. Releasing Factions or parts of Factions as a mode within Part 3 means they won't get stuck into becoming a GAAS studio. Will get them back some good will and will make the fans who have wanted a simple Factions game happy.

If they can do these 3 things then the situation is salvageable imo.

If they scrap the Online game and don't even bother to put Multiplayer in Part 3 then all that time and money is completely wasted. To me that can't be an option. They know people loved the original Factions. With the work they've done on the online game for years they should very easily be able to include a multiplayer mode in Part 3 that will satisfy most people who are disappointed by this cancellation.

4. They need a game announcement next year. Wether that's a new IP or TLOU3 with Multiplayer. One of them has to be announced.
 
Last edited:
This just feels like Sony stopped "forcing" their studios to make all those GaaS games.

Even if i wanted Naughty Dog to release this, let's be honest..do we really want them to be stuck at a single game for like half a decade? Maybe more if it's a success? That would mean a new game maybe halfway through the PS6 gen...

What i find weird is...did they realize this now? It was a no brainer that a live game would mean all their resources would be in this right?
 
No. No, you wouldn’t. There have been many, many enjoyable and successful multiplayer experiences that were “one and done” without being a live service.

I suspect what they actually mean is “our executives/directors/investors would demand that we implement paid post launch content for years to come”.

This is a given even if they released a “one and done” MP title. Idk if you’ve played the original Factions but it’s loaded with microtransactions and paid content, plus some pay to win bullshit for good measure.
 
Never understood why they didn't reuse the same base concept from the original MP and updated it with new maps and QoL improvements. That's all they should've done honestly. The original vanilla MP was surprisingly great and it baffles me how it didn't get more praise from the critics. A lot of strategy was involved in it.
 
Last edited:

Topher

Identifies as young
Yes. But they said they are working on TWO brand new single player games. The only thing that makes any sense is a new IP AND TLOU 3. Which is what I’ve been saying for 3 years and has also been hinted at by all the “insiders”

Fair enough. I hope so. New IP from Naughty Dog would be a welcome thing.
 

zapper

Member
Never understood why they didn't reuse the same base concept from the original MP and updated it with new maps and QoL improvements. That's all they should've honestly. The original vanilla MP was surprisingly great and it baffles me how it didn't get more praise from the critics. A lot of strategy was involved in it.
nd is as megalomaniac as rockstar, it is impossible for them to think simplistically.
 

Men_in_Boxes

Snake Oil Salesman
PlayStation should focus on developing and expanding their single player story driven narrative games, as that’s what brought them success during the PS4 era. Their reputation is now for making some of the best narrative campaign games on the market.
Absolutely crazy that so many people believe this considering what games PS5 players are playing (go look at their monthly most played), how few PS4 / PS5 players even bought their big SP games, and how drastically the market has changed over the last 10 years.

A strict focus on SP games would be a death sentence for PlayStation now.
 
Finally they have come to their senses. I wonder if it’s related to the fall of emperor Jim Ryan. I hope he takes all his shitty gaas with himself.
 

xiskza

Member
youtube the evil is defeated GIF


Now go back to focusing on what made you great in the first place
 

Jigsaah

Member
I had the ps3 and ps4 versions of TLOU1...played the multiplayer one time. Same with Uncharted 3...

No one cares. Good decision. Bungie was right but for the wrong reason.
 
Last edited:

Eiknarf

Banned
Fair enough. I hope so. New IP from Naughty Dog would be a welcome thing.
But don't ya think NOW would be the perfect time to let their fans know WHAT they're working on?

They just delivered bad news. This is the best time to drop some good news. A "distraction", so to speak.

"We've made the incredibly difficult decision to stop development on TLOU Online Multiplayer. But two ambitious, upcoming single player games we're working on are ('The last of Us 3' and a sci-fi romp called, 'From Tethys'. They will be out in mid 2024 and 2025"
 
Last edited:

Killer8

Member
youtube the evil is defeated GIF


Now go back to focusing on what made you great in the first place

Well that would be mascot platformers like Crash and Jak, which is never happening.

Naughty Dog today is mature™ storytelling and torture porn that can be adapted to a TV show for extra money.
 

Topher

Identifies as young
But don't ya think NOW would be the perfect time to let their fans know WHAT they're working on?

They just delivered bad news. This is the best time to drop some good news. A "distraction", so to speak.

"We've made the incredibly difficult decision to stop development on TLOU Online Multiplayer. But two ambitious, upcoming single player games we're working on are ('The last of Us 3' and a sci-fi romp called, 'From Tethys' will be out in mid 2024 and 2025"

Absolutely. Past time for some announcements from a few of Sony's studios. Been saying that a while.
 

Ev1L AuRoN

Member
Naughty Dog has fallen so low in this gen, what it used to be the king of the Sony WW Studios are now relegated to Milk the TLOU franchise with remakes and remasters almost every year.
 
This is really no surprise. It would have looked unbelievable in co-op pve with single player animations and graphics.

But thank god they are stopping. I wish they would focus on 10 to 15 hour single player experiences like they used to and cut dev time.
 

StreetsofBeige

Gold Member
So they are building an online GAAS game......and then suddenly realise they are going to have to support it into the future with new content......so cancel it.Uhhhh......ok then.What the actual fuck,lol.
Exactly. I said it earlier that the excuse they said above being overwhelmed needing to support post launch content is a BS answer because it's obvious they'd know about manpower and resources colliding isnt rocket science.

What happened was the game wasn't coming along great. Bungie likely butted in and evaluated the game as meh, so execs axed it.

If the game was coming along great and looked like it was going to be a giant GAAS money maker it'd still be in development.
 
Absolutely crazy that so many people believe this considering what games PS5 players are playing (go look at their monthly most played), how few PS4 / PS5 players even bought their big SP games, and how drastically the market has changed over the last 10 years.

A strict focus on SP games would be a death sentence for PlayStation now.

It's fine. Once Xbox goes third party they'll just take the 30% from all Xbox GaaS

Win/Win
 
I hate that they are pretending they had this super amazing awesome thing that was sure to be a smash hit, they just simply can't commit the manpower needed. Oh, it took you four years to realize this? Is there a lack of potential employees in the industry or something? If you had something worth releasing that you thought would be successful you wouldn't throw a half decade of work down the toilet with absolutely nothing to show for it.

It's a massive failure and huge waste of resources. Any other spin is a PR campaign.
 

Men_in_Boxes

Snake Oil Salesman
I hate that they are pretending they had this super amazing awesome thing that was sure to be a smash hit, they just simply can't commit the manpower needed. Oh, it took you four years to realize this? Is there a lack of potential employees in the industry or something? If you had something worth releasing that you thought would be successful you wouldn't throw a half decade of work down the toilet with absolutely nothing to show for it.

It's a massive failure and huge waste of resources. Any other spin is a PR campaign.

Think of how many military projects get cancelled at DARPA. When you're on the forefront of the medium, creating new experiences, you have to expect a certain amount of failure. It comes with being on the frontier.
 
Anyone that thinks this anything other than GREAT news is an Xbox fanboy. Naughty Dog is a single player studio that makes single player games.

Stick to what they're good at.

In the mean time just port factions from TLoU. Easy PEasy
You do realize that MOST of the games they released in the past 15 years have included a MP mode, right? Don't come at people with your console war bullshit, Naughty Dog should be criticized.
 

Fake

Member
This thread aged like milk



He isn't saying gamers are bad, he's making fun of the haters.

You mean, those who disagree with him are haters? I guess that is where the term 'smelling their own fart' came from.

You can live in whatever bubble he live, but the real world we have people that agree and disagree with many subjects and still live their lives normally. Is just like social media made folks like him so soft.

Speaking of haters you can ask him why he deleted this tweet as well.
 
Last edited:
What?

Literally every major multiplayer title is on the system. It's one area that really doesn't need to be bolstered by 1st party, especially considering ever man and their dog are trying to make GAAS games at the moment.

It's their single player titles that have been the differentiator for them, and that's been the case consistently since the PS3.
Right. The issue isn't Sony not having MP games on their console. The problem is that those games aren't published by Sony and bringing in huge revenue. Sony wants that money, but at least a focus on SP games could keep the console going strong so they can make money off the % cut from people using PlayStation consoles to play those 3rd party MP games. I think Sony just realizes they went too hard on GaaS development. They should really focus on 1 or 2 GaaS games and grow their library of them over time. There is a still a lot of time before the console market dries up, but I think Sony sees the writing on that wall and just overreacted.
 

StreetsofBeige

Gold Member
They should just downsize it and release a MP for TLOU2 remaster. They tried to go too big and it bit them.
They had 7 years to make LOU 2 vs LOU 1. If LOU 1 had Factions mode I'm sure they could had made a similar (but beefed up) Factions 2 in LOU 2.

But the GAAS focus was too big to ignore (thats why they had those powerpoint slides telling everyone their GAAS 10 game roadmap into 2025), so they decided to amp it up into its own big game to contend with Fortnite or COD Warzone hoping for billions of revenue. Theres actually nothing wrong with making a separate mode. Warzone is. And it's F2P too. The issue is COD is a huge franchise so doing big MP modes in their own identity is fine. Trying to make LOU Factions 2 into it's own universe is risky. The safer play would just be a modernized MP mode into LOU 2.
 
Last edited:
It means they are all on the chopping block.

Which is music to my ears. Stop wasting time and resources on crap that is nothing but a huge gamble. I've said it before and I'll say it again, GAAS is orders of magnitude more risky than any single player project will ever be. The amount of resources needed to keep these projects going is tremendous and they quickly become an endless money pit unless the game isn't successful right off the bat.

We have seen how much Rockstar's single player offerings (and intervals) have suffered since the focus turned to their online offerings. But they have been one of the few who have been successful in this area. For every GAAS project that succeeds there are hundreds of casualties, most of which have catastrophic results for the studio/publisher.

They all need to stop chasing the white rabbit.
A big issue is nobody seems to truly know how to consistently release them. (Accept the Genshin devs).

Luck and first mover advantage seems to be the most important factor. The publisher makes shit loads of cash then nobody elese can compete.
 

Skelterz

Member
All this bullshit and waiting just to cancel it, I remember when the first leaks came out for TLOU2 and I saw footage of a functioning Factions mode running in the LOU2 engine why not just release that as an update? Honestly naughty dog recently have not impressed me cancellations and remakes not a good look.
 
so, for the record: up till yesterday, naughty dog's staff were working on 3 games, & this includes a certain number of whom who were, up till 15 months ago, working on the last of us remake? pretty ambitious, alright...
 

StreetsofBeige

Gold Member
The rumours started in October LOU Online was put on hold. So ND publicly saying its dead means the rumours were true. They just time to tell employees, redeploy them doing other work and wait for the dust to settle so they can give a public message.

So whomever it was who dig up that dirt was right the whole time. It's not like LOU Online was being made all year and Sony/ND decided just yesterday to can it. Its been dead for two months.
 

Generic

Member
Anyone that thinks this anything other than GREAT news is an Xbox fanboy. Naughty Dog is a single player studio that makes single player games.

Stick to what they're good at.

In the mean time just port factions from TLoU. Easy PEasy
Uncharted 2, 3 and TLOU had great multiplayer modes.
 

Woggleman

Member
I think with the departure of Jim Ryan they are not being forced into making a gaas game anymore and want to devote more time and resources into making the games they want to make.
 
Top Bottom