Director of The Last of Us Online Says Former Colleagues Still Tell Him How Amazing It Was Going to Be

The manager of the canceled The Last of Us Online has said erstwhile colleagues inactive connection him to accidental it was “the champion multiplayer crippled they’ve ever played.”

Naughty Dog stopped improvement connected The Last of Us Online successful December 2023, saying it would person needed to enactment each its resources into post-launch contented for years to travel — an attack that would person severely impacted its quality to make aboriginal single-player games including what we present cognize is Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet.

Earlier this month, Vinit Agarwal, who was crippled manager connected The Last of Us Online, spoke retired connected the “devastating” interaction of its cancelation, which helium said helium lone recovered retired astir 24 hours earlier Sony made it public.

“It’s chaotic however galore of my ex-colleagues inactive connection maine contiguous saying however astonishing TLOU Online was going to beryllium — inactive the champion multiplayer crippled they’ve ever played,” Agarwal tweeted implicit the weekend, arsenic spotted by Eurogamer.

“Never going to fto what I enactment connected not spot the airy of time again. Thank you each for your enactment and confidence!”

Agarwal joined Naughty Dog successful 2014 and worked connected The Last of Us Online for astir 7 years, from 2016 to 2023, erstwhile accumulation was unopen down. Afterwards, helium near Naughty Dog to commencement up his ain crippled improvement workplace based successful Japan.

In an interrogation with the Lance E. Lee Podcast from Tokyo, Agarwal spoke openly astir wherefore The Last of Us Online was canceled contempt being “very precise adjacent to done,” blaming it connected a operation of factors including the wide manufacture pullback pursuing COVID lockdowns, and Sony’s consequent reassessment of its unrecorded work push.

He besides spoke astir however The Last of Us Online would person played, explaining that helium wanted to recreate the feeling helium experienced being mugged.

“I wanted radical to get that feeling,” helium said. “It takes spot successful The Last of Us universe. It was a multiplayer crippled acceptable successful the aforesaid beingness arsenic The Last of Us. The Last of Us is simply a post-apocalyptic satellite wherever radical perchance hunt each different for food, for a small spot of supplies. And it's benignant of similar what those guys did to me, wherever they rob maine for fundamentally a McDonald's meal. And truthful that consciousness of desperation that comes retired of that, and what you’re consenting to bash erstwhile you’re desperate, and the dehumanizing constituent of it wherever you're gonna astir hunt idiosyncratic similar an carnal for the scraps. And erstwhile they pursuit you, they're retired for blood. They volition pursuit you to the extremity of the satellite to get that food.

“The extremity of the crippled was to scavenge supplies, and 1 of the champion sources of supplies is to termination the different player, right? And I retrieve this experience, I was playing a truly aboriginal mentation of the game, and idiosyncratic was shooting astatine maine and I hid down a table. And they're looking for maine and they didn't spot me, and they near the room. I reloaded my weapon and they perceive maine reloading my gun, and they travel backmost into the country and past I'm like, s**t, and I leap retired the model and they're chasing maine and I'm moving done the corridors and worldly similar that and I duck successful immoderate grass, due to the fact that it's an overgrown satellite due to the fact that it's 25 years successful the future. And I'm similar successful the writer hiding and they're looking for me, and they're similar walking close adjacent to the writer and they can't spot me.

“And it's this infinitesimal I felt of ducking successful that stoop and feeling similar they're moving around. They're looking for maine and it felt truthful authentically similar that moment. I was like, ‘Wow, this is powerful.’ It was therapy for me.

“It was specified a personally meaningful task to me, that it killed maine that radical couldn't play it. Despite reaching fundamentally the apical of the crippled industry, being a crippled manager astatine 1 of the champion crippled companies successful the world, I thought to myself, the lone amended happening I tin bash is to marque my ain company.”

Former PlayStation enforcement Shuhei Yoshida told Sacred Symbols+ past twelvemonth that feedback from Sony-owned developer Bungie helped to person Naughty Dog to scrap The Last of Us multiplayer.

“The thought for The Last of Us Online came from Naughty Dog and they truly wanted to marque it,” Yoshida said. “But Bungie explained [to them] what it takes to marque unrecorded work games, and Naughty Dog realised, ‘Oops, we can’t bash that! If we bash it, we can’t marque Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet.’ So that was a deficiency of foresight.”

While The Last of Us Online was canceled, determination are hints that Naughty Dog whitethorn beryllium acceptable to instrumentality to the bid for The Last of Us 3. And past determination is HBO's The Last of Us TV series, which is presently shooting its 3rd (and apt last) season.

Wesley is Director, News astatine IGN. Find him connected Twitter astatine @wyp100. You tin scope Wesley astatine [email protected] oregon confidentially astatine [email protected].