We're still reeling from the cancellation of The Last of Us Online, Naughty Dog's ambitious, mysterious multiplayer effort, with news breaking ahead of the weekend that ended months of speculation. Now, an image a notorious leakster just had lying around might serve as either a salve, or to exacerbate the situation further.
Dusk Golem posted a personalised picture of what is purportedly the game's main menu screen to ResetEra, replete with all the live service accoutrements we've come to expect in this modern age of gaming, and it quickly began circulating on social media. Rotating seasons of content, a battle pass, a premium store, all things we've seen before, but wearing the skin of The Last of Us.
It makes the reality of what both Sony and Naughty Dog were getting involved in, swimming with sharks like Fortnite and Call of Duty, feel starker in contrast. How was a studio known for cinematic, single-player excellence ever going to keep up and satisfy a mainstream audience that expects meaningful new content, and quickly? Factions, The Last of Us 2013's multiplayer offering was a long time ago, folks; expectations are vastly different these days.
What do you think of The Last of Us Online's menu screen? Was it everything you'd dreamed? Let us know in the comments section below.
[source resetera.com, via twitter.com]
Comments 30
Wow i wanted this game more than anything else that was announced for PS5. This one hurts to see it canceled. I love the Last of Us and pre ordered Part 2 for PS5. But this one is a gut punch. Hope Sony lands a few awesome multiplayer games soon. I love the single player games but i am a huge online player also. Plus something more competitive will give me reason to use my Dual sense Edge.
Five menu options, one of which is generally not even on the menu (lobby) and two of which involve spending more money (store and battle pass). Look if this came out I’d want it to succeed due to the repercussions failure hurting naughty dog greatly…but this looks rough. I know it wasn’t even finished but damn. I’m so happy naughty dog is coming out of this live service BS ok. Love the studio, and they deserve better.
I spent a few minutes working on an idea I had for a game, but then stopped. Just like the cancelled TLOU2 mp it was better than all other games.
As sad as I am for the studio and all the time and effort the devs put into this project, after seeing that menu... yeah I'm glad they're focusing on what they know and do best instead. This is Naughty Dog after all and I would've hated to see them of all studios cannibalized into live service hell. Really sucks for the players excited for it though.
I never give a damn about multi-player in largely single player games anyway. You want multi-player play call of duty or something. What's next multi-player for God of war or some crap?
Should've ported the og with new maps and guns, love that mp so much
The disappointing part is that it says Battle Pass on it. I had hoped that Sony would try to innovate on the live service formula, rather then copy the usual business model.
Not gonna lie. I wasn’t looking forward to some endlessly updated money and time consumer that I’d feel obligated to play as a fan of the franchise.
@Truegamer79 Sad thing is... God of war multiplayer already happened. 😂
I'm with you though. I think people are making a big fuss about this. This would've been the standard multiplayer shoe-in single player games get. If they made more than that it would've been a gaas game that would consume the whole studio. It would be a waste.
sorry i liked last of us factions and was looking forward to new factions
I now wont get to play it which is annoying
Not a single person would expect it to compete with Fortnite. Jesus christ
It would have been the best multiplayer for adults. Still can't believe it's cancelled.. and still think it will come out someday - if not, go f you, world
@Truegamer79 Someone doesn't know their God of War history very well.
@MFTWrecks
I meant multi-player in the modern God of war games which would be down right stupid.
"Factions, The Last of Us 2013's multiplayer offering was a long time ago, folks; expectations are vastly different these days."
Look, don't get me wrong, Fortnite is a behemoth and one can't ignore its existence but there's an audience for alternatives. I'm certain there are gamers out there who just can't get behind lollipop pickaxes and Ariana Grande skins. Like, surely that's not a controversial take.
@zupertramp Exactly! What expectations are these that i am meant to have? To be able to play as a Lego man?
Older gamers like me (and we still exist in large numbers btw) would absolutely play a throwback game. Especially if it was less likely to attract annoying kids. The real problem here if we're honest is not that gamers do not want older style games, it's that developers do not want to take risks on anything that will not bring in Scrooge McDuck money.
Eh? Really just play the campaign a perfect game only last of us game for me.
Not exactly a screen that makes you wish for it what with battle passes, store and seasons all being there.
“Lobby, Battlepass, Store, Character Levels, Seasons, etc…”
Nah I’m good
Truegamer79 wrote:
A quick Google would have showed you GoW already had a multiplayer mode in Ascension.
Multiplayer isn’t some new crazy idea for Naughty Dog, they’ve been making these for decades in almost every game since Uncharted 2, 3, 4, TLOU etc.
That all said, like you, they’re not for me either.
Lol, you're reeling? 😂 I'm happy it's cancelled. Bring on the next great single player title from Naughty Dog. This never should or needed to be a big, seperate GaaS project. Giga-dumb idea.
Is there any reason why this is getting treated as a legit picture in both the article and the comments? In this day and age, I don't trust anything that isn't coming from either an official source or someone with a rock solid track record and accountability, e.g. someone like Jason Schreier. Almost anyone can mock up something that looks extremely professional and authentic these days.
@Truegamer79 That already happens and oh it was bad the game was the worst of the series. 😆
@themightyant If they would put in factions like with the first game as seperate download and trophies list i would totally love it. But i heard they would be rebranded as a full liveservice studio somehow it makes me feel great it bombed.
It will probably end up as a multiplayer mode in the Last of Us 3. I don't believe they will throw years of development away just like that.
Is it really all that different from any other multiplayer game? It’s a little weird that the main screen is called lobby, but it’s basically the same content as Fortnite and CoD. Seems like they put everything up front where they anticipate players to be looking for information. Not much to work with here, but disappointing since it was something i was looking forward to.
I’m glad it got shuttered but I will say that I was looking forward to beating people to death with bricks. The best part of the original Factions was getting brick kills.
Wait, is this trying to breed wistful nostalgia for something that never even released?
Don't worry, a data leak in future will produce a playable beta or alpha version, like what happened with the original Duke Nukem Forever incomplete build circa 2001, or the Xbox 360 version of GoldenEye or that early playtest footage of GTA VI or so on... all hackers need to know is that something exists, and they'll go after it.
Eye immediately drawn to Battlepass, and delighted naughty dog decided they aren't playing in the sewer
I had no problem with Sony chasing some live service success of their own, but with the way GaaS are going in general lately and given the rumoured grumbles we've been hearing about how some of Sony are not happy with this push, decisions like this one at ND might be for the best.
SIE's whole business model is reliant on having the most players and getting the best third party deals.
But once MS opens it's mobile storefront that will all be added to Game Pass, at which point GP will potentially become very big. CoD launching there will have an impact.
I don't see PlayStation diminishing or anything, plenty of people don't play CoD, but they simply won't be the biggest platform. Mobile already is.
PlayStation will remain the biggest AAA home console platform for sure and XBOX hardware at this point just doesn't make sense anymore, but what Sony needs to do now is make sure that PSN and PlayStation both exist in 20 - 30 years.
Focus on what they are famously good at - AAA narrative driven experiences. Link them to Crunchyroll or Core and really get players and fans invested in that cross media push.
They need a few big online games to keep the revenue coming year round, but for that I think they'll have to acquire something that already exists. Relying on third party is no longer a sure thing.
Maybe they need to lockdown some popular MMOs like Final Fantasy and Black Desert.
Then again, there's every chance Bungie turns things around again and Final Shape + Marathon are hits.
Or maybe Sony can replicate Ubisoft's approach to live service single player games.
Interesting times.
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