The cancellation of Naughty Dog's anticipated multiplayer offering, The Last of Us Online (colloquially known as Factions, originally meant to ship as part of The Last of Us: Part II), is a situation we still haven't quite recovered from in an industry seemingly beset by bad news. For better or worse, more information about the cancelled project has emerged from a reputable source, and unsurprisingly, it seems some folks at Sony were made to pay the price for the high-profile misfire.
Speaking on the Friends Per Second podcast, Bloomberg's Jason Schreier revealed some choice details about the tragically cancelled project (thanks, PSU). On X, user Dream Walker shared the relevant clip, in which Schreier reveals the multiplayer offering was in development for around four years, that it was an expensive project with a team in the hundreds, and that, as a result of its cancellation, heads were made to roll at Sony.
The more we learn about this mysterious situation, the more maddening it becomes. Hopefully, someday, the full story will come to light, and we can sleep again at night, knowing what was said to make it all go away.
What do you think of Schreier's comments? Have you learned how to move on with your life in a world in which Naughty Dog multiplayer is more unlikely than ever? Let us know in the comments section below.
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TLOU2's perfect combat was bogged down by Druckmann's tedious script; Factions 2 would have been a killer app for the PS5. It's a crying shame.
Did anyone get surprised by the cancellation?
@VaultGuy415 I couldn’t get past the ten hour mark. Just too boring. I loved the first game though, thought it was paced perfectly. TLoU Part 2 felt like an Oscar nominated movie that no one actually liked.
Their early 2020's live service push has been a frustrating and fascinating chapter in PlayStation's history. I'd pay good money for a book documenting all the juicy details of how this happened and what went wrong behind the scenes.
Give it to firewalk once concord bombs.
One of my favorite online multiplayers. And Uncharted as well. Was so hyped to play Factions with my son and my nephews. Like we used to back in the day.
They should have released it ... And the game guaranteed made the money
@RBMango Agreed! I remember saying back then when Ryan said they had 11 live service games in development that it was going to fail. Very interesting watching it come true all these years later.
Removed - unconstructive
As much as I’d love to see some form of the game revived someday, I feel like it was the right call not to jump into the live service space. Naughty Dog’s strengths lie in balancing solid gameplay with compelling narratives and characters we love, hate, or love to hate.
It really is too bad we probably will never see Naughty Dog get another crack at multiplayer. They never did get the credit they deserved for their previous efforts. Uncharted 2 is to this day probably my favorite online multiplayer shooter I've ever played. It was perfectly balanced, had excellent map design, and perfect pacing for what I'm looking for in a multiplayer game.
TLOU Factions was also right up there with Uncharted 2's as well. I was so excited to play Factions with TLOU2's mechanics.
It still feels bad man. ☹️
The biggest sadness of my gaming career is no factions 2. I just pray they use all that work and tack it on as a multiplayer suite alongside Part 3.
why didnt they get Naughty dog to make it and then pass it off to another studio to do the live service. thats frees up naughty dog to make another game
we all know Firewalks time would have been better spent making factions2 rather than Concord
They made a great tlou online games on ps3, I don't understand why nd needs others dev opinion (bungie) when they plan to make tlou online 2 😕
People keep saying should have released it blah blah.
But what if it was actually just not good? It could potentially have been another concord.
People don’t realise it HAD to be almost perfect, due to the size of the IP, future games, future TV series etc. can’t afford for a below average live service game to destroy the IP.
Of course it could have been good, we just simply don’t know as we never saw it.
If they released it now as is (with a few finishing touches) I have no doubt it will easily make it's make money back and beyond! Such a easy live service homerun yet they instead canned it and focus on a couple of other no name games that have bomb written all over them.
@Jacko11 I know right. Last of Us 2 was narratively fantastic. The more I’ve thought about the game after playing it the more I like it. Not sure what people wanted if they found it boring. It was dark, violent and dirty, in an upsetting way, but totally engaging and in-keeping with themes of both games.
I would have been happy with a remaster of Faction. Gameplay loop was/is so damn good.
All i wanted was a multiplayer for the base game. Like they did with uncharted2-4 and last of us1. That wouldve been more than enough
@BIG3 Cheaper easier and a fun extra alongside the new game or just as a solo release.
"It seems some folks at Sony were made to pay the price for the high-profile misfire"
I believe one of those who paid the price was old Jimbo. Turning Factions 2 from normal MP into live service as well bought useless & overpriced Bungie as a consultant and 20+ live service projects was his decision.
Let's pray the new SIE president and higher ups not ended at the same pitfall like Jimbo did.
@trev666 Probably because the external studio would have to learn ND's engine and that would have took a lot of time. Plus there was no guarantee a studio was out there to do the job in the first place, even Sony's own support studios would have been on other projects.
@Cry_Zero It’s 2024 , can’t have (full and complete) games that have offline campaigns and online multiplayer anymore. i remember when it was a thing though , good times.
What a waste of working hours and money
@PuppetMaster "Turning Factions 2 from normal MP into live service"
Of course they tried to turn it into live service. Because that's only viable path in 2024. People just refuse to accept fact that because of how expensive AAA game currently is, times of "tacked-on" multiplayer modes as a supplement to a SP campaign are over.
You either have to commit to SP only game, or MP live service game. There is no in-between.
And please, don't argue with games like Space Marine 2. Because bulk of Saber staff lives in eastern Europe, where development costs are probably 1/5 of what they are in California.
Good. I hope more heads roll in this incompetent company.
Played factions yesterday for the millionth time and this just makes my blood boil.
FOUR years in development and you couldn't at the very least release something basic like the first factions!?
That alone would've made it better than 99% of the multiplayer games out there. God what a bunch of incompetent utter fools. What a disgraceful sh*t company. Been a fan since day 1, but they're running it into the ground and frankly, good riddance.
Bungie "but it's not like all of the other live service games. Bin it and SIE can focus on the ones that are exactly like every other game, that is the sure fire way to succeed" 🙄
@nomither6 miss those times. The multiplayer party of those games were INCREDIBLE. Every multiplayer ND made was great
The one GAS title that I was sure would be a massive hit for Sony didn't even make it to market. Goes to show how difficult and risky this area of development is and how much resources GAS takes.
I think ultimately history will show this GAS push will be fruitless for Sony but I don't blame them
for attempting to strike gold. The development of SP titles has suffered from this decision.
Many first-party studios are simply not ready to release games. However, that gap would normally be filled with smaller studios that are all developing their GAS "potential disasters".
Even when they do hit developers like Arrowhead have shown it's difficult to maintain that initial hype.
@Arthur_Morgan
It was proven over and over again that a good live service game that is polished and made by talented people is a success.
Factions 2 was something people actually wanted. A BR with the stellar TLOU2 gameplay in an apocalypse world. Sign me up.
They had a recipe for MASSIVE success and THEY WERE ALMOST THERE!
Instead the incompetent fools poor tons of money in some generic Overwatch copycat live service game and cancel Factions 2. I just cannot get over it. I am pissed beyond belief. It seriously makes me give up all hope in modern gaming and the downward spiral Sony has been taking since PS4.
@Doctor_BK its okay to be wrong I respect your opinion, but I do disagree. I loved the game. For me, it was a masterpiece. I enjoyed HOW the story was told, but enjoyed TLOU1's story more. Everyone has their own opinion, and its good to have these discussions
@Godot25 "times of "tacked-on" multiplayer modes as a supplement to a SP campaign are over. You either have to commit to SP only game, or MP live service game. There is no in-between."
Disagreed.
There's also fighting games like GG Strive, SF 6, MK 1, or Tekken 8 that has pretty decent SP campaign outside the solid MP mode.
And i believe a lot of people are still playing TloU 1 Faction or SP games with MP mode like Uncharted 4, Destiny 2, Titanfall 2, Doom Eternal, RDR 2, GTA 4/5, old COD games like Modern Warfare remaster / remake, BLOPS 1-3, etc.
Talk about Space Marine 2, recently i just booted up Space Marine 1 on PS3 and there are people who's still playing the multiplayer. They're probably warming up for Space Marine 2 but it's clear people never rejected the idea of SP games with "tacked-on" MP mode.
I am almost certain that we won't get a new Naughty Dog game this generation, maybe in part due to this being in production for so long.
Removed - unconstructive
@Godot25 I agree to some extent. Sadly that is the way things are at the moment. Gone are the days of releasing a few map packs for a fee. The incentive for live service is too big. Get it right and it’s a billion plus dollars.
Would be nice if Drukman was one. That guy will be the death of naughty dog.
@Specky We are all clueless about the state of the project and after pouring hundreds of millions into the project the game must have been in a really rough place to just give up and cancel it. You don't spend hundreds of millions of dollars and then scuttle the project if you think it's going to be a massive success. You rework the project so as not to lose your investment.
I wanted the game to be a massive success but Sony didn't spend a ton of money to say nah we like Concord better. They were developed simultaneously by different teams the project was simply not viable in its current state. They wanted LOU Fractions 2 and Concord to clean up the market.
Of all of the live service projects, how many new titles have managed to break into the market?
Games like Overwatch, Fortnite, CS GO, PUBG, Warzone, Rainbow 6, and GTAO were all on the bubble.
Anthem, Suicide Squad Kill The Justice League, Multiversus, and Marvel's Avengers had hundreds of millions poured into them and failed.
If you were not on the bubble it's an extremely difficult market to enter. How many newcomers have since joined the market and can compete? Titles such as Genshin Impact are the exceptions, not the rule which is why Sony commissioned so many Live service titles at once because most will fail and you only need one to hit big.
It's throwing darts at a board. Success in this market space is nit easily replicated regardless of the funding.
@Arthur_Morgan
>Games like Overwatch, Fortnite, CS GO, PUBG, Warzone, Rainbow 6, and GTAO and also Apex I might add.
Those are all quality games or pioneers or at the right place, right time like Siege. They all had great gameplay to support a live service model.
>Anthem, Suicide Squad Kill The Justice League, Multiversus, and Marvel's Avengers
These are all garbage, unfinished games that were advertised to have stellar campaigns like SS and Avengers and then delivered something so vile, it turned their whole fanbases against them. Or in SS's case, fired their whole writing staff for god knows what kind of incompetent creatures write for them now.
It's not a coincidence that quality games succeed and the garbage unfinished, insult to their fans fail. Concord is so utterly pathetic and generic that it's DOA.
Factions had a lot going for it and they were close to showing more. They started showing concept art, etc. They had an idea and they've got the experience from Uncharted and Last of Us multiplayers which were are stellar, especially their last one.
It was probably costing them a lot and these hacks like Jim Ryan are obviously very short sighted and only want revenue now. Why would he care about some live service game raking in money when he's gone?
Concord was the safer, cheaper option and it's by the numbers as all hell. It's literally a copycat of something that works. It's not inventive like Factions would've been.
This is cowardice from Sony. You can't work 4 years on something WITH ASSETS YOU ALREADY HAVE from the singleplayer game and deliver nothing.
Naughty Dog pumps out the greatest games ever made in less time.
This is incompetence, toothless behaviour from Sony that's been utterly characteristic of them since PS4. I hate it with a passion. Good riddance to a once great brand.
What's it matter? It's been over for a while now.
The biggest problem is that the game got as far into development as it did. I'd much rather have seen that team work on a new single player game than waste 4+ years on a live service game.
Industry-adjacent "journalists" expound on things they heard from a "reliable source" about what are most likely rumours based on workplace gossip.
FFS scale up a satellite NaughtyDog studio that can own the Factions Online project ongoing.
Factions, to this day, still has a rock solid playerbase--proving the audience is there.
Rockstar has given you a blueprint for scaling multiple IPs across multiple studios, under a single umbrella.
The fact that one of Sony's most successful studios is incapable of scaling — means NaughtyDog leadership is simply out of their depths.
Fix the scaling problem — don't abandon the project.
No, but green lighting The Last of Us online was a bloody stupid endeavor.
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