Though there hadn’t been an announcement for The Last of Us Part III, fans thought that Naughty Dog was going to give them an online version of The Last of Us which was supposed to be an update to Factions.
The game was eventually canceled, but as it turns out, it was actually sacrificed in order for Naughty Dog to make their upcoming original IP.
Why The Last of Us Online Was Canceled
In a recent interview with Sacred Symbols+ (via PushSquare), former PlayStation executive Shuhei Yoshida confirmed that he had played The Last of Us Online and ‘it was great’. The problem was, if Naughty Dog had pushed forward with the development of a live service game, they would have had to sacrifice their upcoming original IP, Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet—and it looks like they chose Intergalactic.
Yoshida explained, “The idea for The Last of Us Online came from Naughty Dog and they really wanted to make it… But [Destiny developer Bungie] explained [to them] what it takes to make live service games, and Naughty Dog realized, ‘Oops, we can’t do that! If we do it, we can’t make Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet.’ So that was a lack of foresight.”
What Was The Last of Us Online?
While we never got an official look at The Last of Us Online, fans just assumed that it would be an updated version of TLOU: Factions, but this time, adapting gameplay from The Last of Us Part II.
Originally, Factions would have players in teams where they had a mix of abilities that made up the gameplay of Joel in the original TLOU. For the sequel, fans thought that they would split the abilities between Ellie and Abby’s characters and have different builds for side characters in the story including Joel, Tommy, Dina, Owen, and the rest.
It’s essentially how multiplayer games are spun off from AAA titles like Ghost of Tsushima: Legends where players get to pick from four different classes of characters, each with abilities that are only part of Jin Sakai’s whole kit.
Can The Last of Us Online Still Happen?
With the recent failings of live-service games like MultiVersus and Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League, it was probably the right call for Naughty Dog to take a step back and choose an original IP over a live-service spinoff.
If anything, it seems like they already have something cooked up for TLOU Online. Maybe they can just resurrect the project once they start development on The Last of Us Part III—which could be a few more years away; depending on how successful Intergalactic turns out.
At best, they can use TLOU Online to keep fans excited about the world of TLOU as they work on the release of Part III. It should probably keep them satiated for a good year or so, but that’s really just based on how great Naughty Dog can make it work as a live service game.
No specific release date has been announced for Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet, but fans are hoping it comes out for the PS5 sometime later this year.