The Last of Us Part 2 has never had an official multiplayer mode, despite Naughty Dog originally planning one for the game. Because of that history, as well as how good The Last of Us 1 Factions was, all fan attempts to bring multiplayer to The Last of Us 2 via PC mods have certainly been welcomed. One such project had been quietly growing into a surprisingly substantial multiplayer experience, at least until Naughty Dog and Sony intervened.
The project came from mod team Speclizer, which had been working on an unofficial multiplayer mode for The Last of Us Part 2 since January. The team had already shown off extensive gameplay footage over the summer, giving players a look at how the mod was turning the single-player game into a multiplayer experience. The project was also partially funded through Patreon, suggesting there was enough interest around The Last of Us Part 2‘s multiplayer potential to support continued development.
Naughty Dog and Son Cancel Last of Us Multiplayer Release
Unfortunately, The Last of Us Part 2‘s fan-made multiplayer project has been canceled at the request (read: demand) of Naughty Dog and Sony. Speclizer says it recently received a letter on behalf of Sony Interactive Entertainment requesting that the mod not be released, effectively bringing the project to an end before the planned launch this month. The team said it was “extremely sad” that the project never got to see the light of day after spending so much time developing it and receiving support from the community.
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The mod itself was not just a simple multiplayer experiment either. The Last of Us Part 2 project included custom maps along with features such as perks and limited listening mechanics, giving it some of the systems that made the original Factions multiplayer mode so interesting. Footage of the project showed just how far the team had taken the idea (and why there was clearly interest in seeing the finished version).
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The cancellation is also a little more notable because of The Last of Us Part 2‘s own history with multiplayer. Naughty Dog originally planned to include a multiplayer component with The Last of Us Part 2, but The Last of Us Online would later be canceled. Sony brought in Bungie to evaluate its various live-service game projects, and that has unfortunately not gone over well across the board.
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With Naughty Dog having little to do with The Last of Us Season 3, but presumably still with future projects in the pipeline, it remains to be seen what the future of the IP is. Multiplayer wasn’t in the cards for TLOU2, but perhaps it will be for TLOU3.
