Sony has reportedly scaled back the size of Naughty Dog’s upcoming The Last of Us multiplayer game. This comes following an evaluation of the project by Sony and Bungie.
According to a report by Bloomberg, the number of people who have been assigned to work on the project has been reduced. This came about partly based off of Bungie’s feedback to the quality and viability of The Last of Us multiplayer.
Sony recently acquired Bungie, which worked on Destiny 2 and used to work on Halo.
The Bloomberg report claims that, “Bungie raised questions about the The Last of Us multiplayer project’s ability to keep players engaged for a long period of time, which led to the reassessment.”
The game has not been canceled, but many of its developers have moved to other projects and a small group remains while Sony re-evaluates the decision.
Naughty Dog had also posted a statement on social media prior to the Bloomberg report that indicated The Last of Us multiplayer would need more development time.
“As development has continued, we’ve realized what is best for the game is to give it more time,” wrote the studio.
“Our team will continue to work on the project, as well as our other games in development, including a brand new single-player experience.”
Sony Using Bungie to Vet Many Live Service Games
Earlier this week, Sony Interactive Entertainment revealed that it is using Bungie to “rigorously” vet its in-development live service games.
SIE stated that it is planning on having 12 live service titles in the market by the end of the fiscal year ending March 2026. This has gone up from three during its last business year, which ended March 2023.
Sony has also said that it has made Bungie an integral part of ensuring their live service games have the best chances to succeed.
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