The Final of Us multiplayer recreation has been cancelled. In a weblog put up, developer Naughty Canine confirmed that the event on the promised on-line expertise throughout the post-apocalyptic universe, which it was calling ‘The Final of Us On-line,’ has been stopped. The astonishing information comes only a month after recreation director Vinit Agarwal assured followers that the venture was nonetheless taking place regardless of the quite a few reported setbacks, together with the shedding of 25 staff. One cannot merely launch a live-service recreation into the wild and count on it to thrive. It desperately wants post-launch content material for years to return, not directly impacting a studio which is in any other case identified for creating memorable single-player narratives.
“The multiplayer staff has been in pre-production with this recreation since we had been engaged on The Final of Us Half II — crafting an expertise we felt was distinctive and had super potential,” the put up reads. “Because the multiplayer staff iterated on their idea for The Final of Us On-line throughout this time, their imaginative and prescient crystalized, the gameplay obtained extra refined and satisfying, and we had been enthusiastic concerning the course during which we had been headed.” Naughty Canine then needed to choose between two decisions: turn into a live-service studio and feed into Sony PlayStation’s long-term monopoly-making plan (crafted by Jim Ryan) or give attention to what the staff is sweet at and create well-received story video games. Clearly, the developer selected the latter path and has claimed that it is obtained a number of titles within the works — considered one of which is presumed to be The Final of Us Half III.
This transformation in gears goes consistent with a report from Could, the place Naughty Canine scaled again growth on The Final of Us On-line, to reassess its high quality and long-term viability as the large job at hand grew to become clearer. You see, Sony obtained Future maker Bungie to judge its live-service slate and it introduced up some considerations concerning TLOU multiplayer’s potential to maintain gamers engaged for a protracted interval. No gameplay footage was ever launched to the general public eye and all we obtained was an announcement in the course of the Summer time Recreation Fest 2022 and a few idea artwork for the disease-ridden world, which is harking back to San Franciso — an space reduce off from the principle storyline to introduce a bunch of recent NPCs. It began life as a further recreation mode for The Final of Us Half 2 however was then separated to flourish as its personal factor with excessive ambitions.
Final month, Sony halved the variety of live-service video games it deliberate to launch by March 2026 — taking place from 12 to 6 titles — although it is unclear whether or not that rely included The Final of Us On-line. In the meantime, The Final of Us Half II is getting a remaster on January 19, that includes enhancements for the PS5 and a roguelite mode pitting you into randomised encounters towards determined survivors and the contaminated, as you play as acquainted characters from the franchise, together with Joel, Ellie, and Abby.
