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Naughty Dog announced Thursday that it\u2019s canceled the multiplayer game it was building in The Last of Us<\/em> universe.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n The studio says it has been in pre-production on The Last of Us Online<\/em> even while working on The Last of Us Part II<\/em>. \u201cWe were enthusiastic about the direction in which we were headed,\u201d according to a blog post about the news<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n However, \u201cto release and support The Last of Us Online<\/em> we\u2019d have to put all our studio resources behind supporting post launch content for years to come, severely impacting development on future single-player games,\u201d Naughty Dog says. \u201cSo, we had two paths in front of us: become a solely live service games studio or continue to focus on single-player narrative games that have defined Naughty Dog\u2019s heritage.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Clearly, Naughty Dog is picking the latter path \u2014 it also says it has \u201cmore than one\u201d big new single-player title in the works.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n The Last of Us Online<\/em> development already seemed to be in some trouble, as Naughty Dog announced a delay to the game in May<\/a> shortly after Bloomberg<\/em> reported that Sony was re-evaluating the game\u2019s direction. (In that same delay announcement, Naughty Dog also revealed it was working on a \u201cbrand-new single player experience.\u201d) In Kotaku\u2019s<\/em> October report<\/a> about Naughty Dog laying off some contractors, the publication said that The Last of Us\u2019 Online<\/em> was \u201cbasically on ice.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n The cancellation of The Last of Us Online<\/em> adds to Sony\u2019s broader pushback of its live service ambitions. Instead of releasing 12 live service games by March 2026, it now only plans to release six<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Sony and Naughty Dog\u2019s The Last of Us Part II Remastered <\/em>will be released on January 19th, 2024<\/a>. The second season of the hit HBO show is set to debut in 2025<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n