It’s been more than a year since The Last of Us Part II came out. The game was rather divisive due to decisions in the storytelling, but it was largely seen as a success. However, the game technically did not release in its full state. While the Last of Us, and its sequel, are mainly known for single-player storytelling, the first game had a shockingly in-depth multiplayer mode.
Many fans were hoping to see multiplayer make a return in the sequel. Unfortunately, while there have always been plans to give the game multiplayer, it did not launch with that feature nor has it been patched in yet. And fans were getting a bit antsy that it may never come, which is why Sunday was a relief for fans of the Naughty Dog epic. On Sunday, the developers celebrated The Last of Us Day and included a long blog post thanking fans for their support. The post also included a hint about multiplayer: it’s in the works, and but it’s an “ambitious project.”
The Last of Us Day is also a chance to thank our incredible team inside the studio who trusted the vision and heart of this franchise and saw it through to fruition – you’re the best and the ripple effect of your efforts are leaving lasting marks around the world.
“Yeah, that’s lovely and great Naughty Dog, but what are you doing with The Last of Us right now?”
In short, we’re working on it – we see the community comments as many of you clamor for multiplayer and want updates. For now, we’ll say that we love what the team is developing and want to give them time to build out their ambitious project, we’ll reveal more when it’s ready! To that end, we’ve been busy growing our team inside the kennel since The Last of Us Part II launched and are currently in full swing of hiring for MP-related positions (hint hint), so if you or somebody you know qualifies for anything you see on our jobs page, apply!
This could be, of course, nothing. The last few years have been an extremely difficult time to develop a game, which is why such a large feature missing the cut on launch initially made sense. But historically when Naughty Dog starts getting ambitious with something it usually ends up being bigger than it was supposed to be at the start. Remember Uncharted: The Lost Legacy? What was originally supposed to be a side DLC story for Uncharted 4 ended up becoming a standalone title.
Whatever this “ambitious project” ends up becoming it will certainly be worth the time and effort the developers put into it. Even if it just ends up being standard multiplayer. Unfortunately, we likely won’t get to see the results of that anytime soon based on the wording of the blog post. But it’s nice to know we have multiplayer on the way, but let’s not get our hopes up for actually seeing it anytime soon.