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- According to Shuhei Yoshida, Bungie’s input largely drove the cancelation of The Last of Us Multiplayer (Factions).
- Bungie pointed out the heavy workload required to sustain a live service game.
- Former PlayStation executive Shuhei Yoshida acknowledged that he found the canceled game high quality.
It’s been over a year since The Last of Us Multiplayer, aka “Factions,” got canceled – and we might finally know who influenced Naughty Dog’s decision to cancel the project.
In a recent podcast interview on Sacred Symbols+(paywalled), former PlayStation Studios head Shuhei Yoshida shared that Bungie’s input caused Naughty Dog to cancel the standalone The Last of Us multiplayer.
Yoshida also mentioned that he got to play the game and thought it was “really great.”
Why it matters: We’ll never know if Bungie’s feedback might have saved Naughty Dog from a Concord-like situation.
The Last of Us multiplayer, or Factions, was originally planned as a multiplayer spin-off of The Last of Us Part 2. Naughty Dog had been working on it for years and shared details about its big plans.
However, in late 2023, the studio revealed the game was canceled due to the large resources needed to support a live-service title. It’s also reported that Naughty Dog was really upset with Sony’s decision to cancel the game.
Yoshida, who played the game multiple times during its development, described it as “great” and praised Naughty Dog’s dedication to the project. He explained that Naughty Dog really wanted to continue with the project. However, Bungie’s intervention played an important role in the game’s fate.
Bungie explained to them [Naughty Dog] what it takes to make a live-service game, and Naughty Dog realized, ‘Oops, we can’t do that!’
-Shuhei Yoshida
Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet is Naughty Dog’s upcoming single-player sci-fi adventure, which the studio chose to focus on instead of the multiplayer project.
The decision to cancel The Last of Us Multiplayer is part of PlayStation’s plans, as the company has recently reduced its focus on live-service games. Originally, Sony aimed to launch more than 10 live-service titles by March 2026, but it has since scrapped multiple projects, including Concord and games from Bend Studio and Bluepoint Games.
Do you think Naughty Dog made the right call listening to Bungie’s advice and canceling The Last of Us Factions? Drop your thoughts in the comments, or join the conversation on the Tech4Gamers forum.
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