The Last of Us multiplayer mode has been “put on hold”, although not officially cancelled.
The Last of Us stands as one of Naughty Dog’s crowning achievements – making an already impressive list even greater by featuring Uncharted 3, Jak and Daxter 2 and original Crash Bandicoot from 1996!
As The Last of Us made its PlayStation 3 debut in 2013, near its conclusion of life cycle, it truly tested every aspect of its system to its limit. Indeed, one could say it pushed beyond anything Naughty Dog could possibly achieve with their console alone! It just shows their extraordinary talent at Naughty Dog!
The Last of Us (2013) featured an incredible multiplayer mode called ‘Factions,” which combined elements from single player survival with competitive third-person shooter gameplay. Later in 2014 with The Last of Us Remastered it would make its debut onto PS4.
Unfortunately, although showing great promise as an engaging multiplayer mode, “Factions” failed to gain popularity with players. While you can still easily locate an online match through PS4, recent speculation indicates servers could eventually close due to Naughty Dog working on a standalone release for it.
Confusingly, Naughty Dog announced in May 2023 that though development of their standalone multiplayer game ‘Factions’ had not stopped; rather it had been postponed; although at that time insiders suggested otherwise: Bungie’s internal review raised concerns over its longevity resulting in postponing it to later this summer and cancelling planned reveal dates; with some even suggesting its cancellation altogether.
However, that might not be the case; IGN reported that The Last of Us multiplayer game has been placed “on hold but has not been completely cancelled,” suggesting there may still be hope; unfortunately however, Naughty Dog has apparently laid off at least 25 developers, most likely quality assurance contractors.
Stay tuned! We will keep an eye out for any further developments.
