Naughty Dog’s The Last of Us franchise featured a multiplayer mode in Factions, and while the studio planned to add multiplayer to the sequel, it abandoned those ambitions before release. A modder spent months this year working on a multiplayer mod for The Last of Us 2, but its lead has now said it’s not going to be released due to a request from Sony to shut it down.
Modder @Speclizer_ said on social media that the mod was due to launch this month. However, they said they “recently received a letter on behalf of Sony Interactive Entertainment requesting for the mod not to be released.”
Speclizer said this is an “extremely sad” development, but they hope people who supported the project will stick with them for the next one. Their next project will be “something of my own” as opposed to an extension of an existing game.
“Thank you all for the incredible amount of support over the last year. I hope to bring you something bigger and better soon!” Speclizer said.
GameSpot has contacted Sony in an attempt to get more details.
Naughty Dog was set to expand The Last of Us into an online multiplayer experience in a very big way with The Last of Us Online. The game was in development for years with significant resources dedicated to it, and it was reportedly almost ready for release. However, in December 2023, Naughty Dog canceled the game, saying at the time that it was going to focus on single-player games instead.
Also at that time, Naughty Dog confirmed that it had two single-player games in development. One has been revealed to be Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet, while the other remains a mystery; many believe it’s The Last of Us 3.
In other Naughty Dog-related news, studio head Neil Druckmann has confirmed that the studio has no creative involvement in the upcoming third season of HBO’s The Last of Us. This is a big change, as Druckmann himself was personally and directly involved in the previous two seasons.