The Final of Us On-line is lifeless. Naughty Canine introduced at this time that the multiplayer spin-off of the hit collection is not in growth, citing issues about managing ongoing content material for a live-service recreation whereas nonetheless making an attempt to supply the single-player blockbusters the PlayStation studio is known for.
“We notice a lot of you’ve got been anticipating information across the undertaking that we’ve been calling The Final of Us On-line,” Naughty Canine wrote in a December 14 replace. “There’s no simple technique to say this: We’ve made the extremely tough choice to cease growth on that recreation.”
The studio mentioned that as manufacturing on the undertaking ramped up, it turned clear that “we’d need to put all our studio sources behind supporting publish launch content material for years to come back, severely impacting growth on future single-player video games.” The alternatives have been apparently between turning into a “solely live-service video games studio” within the mildew of recent day Bungie, which makes Future 2, or “proceed to give attention to single-player narrative video games which have outlined Naughty Canine’s heritage.”
The Final Of Us On-line, which many many followers beforehand known as Factions after the multiplayer mode from the unique 2013 PlayStation 3 recreation, was first introduced throughout Summer season Sport Fest 2022. The spin-off was billed because the studio’s “greatest on-line expertise” ever, and as massive as any of its single-player video games.
However Naughty Canine by no means confirmed the sport past obscure statements and idea artwork. Then in Could of this yr, Bloomberg reported that the manufacturing workforce on the sport had be scaled again following damaging suggestions from an inner assessment by Bungie, which Sony acquired final yr. On the time, the studio posted a statement on Twitter saying that whereas issues have been progressing effectively, the sport required extra time. By October, nevertheless, Kotaku reported that the undertaking had been “placed on ice” amid some inner reshuffling and dozens of contracted builders being laid off.
The Final of Us On-line was considered one of a lot of new multiplayer tasks in growth throughout Sony’s studios because the PlayStation 5 maker invested in a large shift towards extra live-service video games. In November, Sony revealed throughout an earnings name that half of the roughly dozen on-line video games it was engaged on can be delayed previous 2025.
Within the meantime, Naughty Canine remains to be engaged on a “brand-new single-player recreation” it plans to disclose someday sooner or later.
Right here’s Naughty Canine’s full weblog publish:
We notice a lot of you’ve got been anticipating information across the undertaking that we’ve been calling The Final of Us On-line. There’s no simple technique to say this: We’ve made the extremely tough choice to cease growth on that recreation.
We all know this information can be robust for a lot of, particularly our devoted The Final of Us Factions neighborhood, who’ve been following our multiplayer ambitions ardently. We’re equally crushed on the studio as we have been wanting ahead to placing it in your fingers. We wished to share with you some background of how we got here to this choice.
The multiplayer workforce has been in pre-production with this recreation since we have been engaged on The Final of Us Half II – crafting an expertise we felt was distinctive and had super potential. Because the multiplayer workforce iterated on their idea for The Final of Us On-line throughout this time, their imaginative and prescient crystalized, the gameplay received extra refined and satisfying, and we have been enthusiastic concerning the route wherein we have been headed.
In ramping as much as full manufacturing, the huge scope of our ambition turned clear. To launch and assist The Final of Us On-line we’d need to put all our studio sources behind supporting publish launch content material for years to come back, severely impacting growth on future single-player video games. So, we had two paths in entrance of us: develop into a solely reside service video games studio or proceed to give attention to single-player narrative video games which have outlined Naughty Canine’s heritage.
We’re immensely pleased with everybody on the studio that touched this undertaking. The learnings and investments in expertise from this recreation will carry into how we develop our tasks and can be invaluable within the route we’re headed as a studio. We’ve multiple bold, model new single participant recreation that we’re engaged on right here at Naughty Canine, and we can not wait to share extra about what comes subsequent once we’re prepared.
Till then, we’re extremely grateful to our neighborhood on your assist all through the years.