Last of Us multiplayer video game faces setbacks at Sony
Sony has slowed down development on an upcoming multiplayer game in its long-running The Last of Us video game series as the creators reassess its quality and long-term viability, according to four people familiar with the project.
The team working on the game was scaled back after a recent evaluation, said the people, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they weren't authorised to speak publicly.
A small group remains on the project while the company reevaluates the direction. While the game has not been cancelled, many of its developers have been moved to other projects.
Following requests for comment from Bloomberg News, Naughty Dog, the Sony subsidiary working on the project, put out a statement on Twitter saying that "we've realised what's best for the game is to give it more time".
The Last of Us franchise began as a video game in 2013, and the various releases have sold more than 37 million units as of December, according to Sony.
It has since grown into a larger cultural phenomenon thanks to HBO's TV adaptation, which became one of this year's biggest hits. The show, which tells emotional stories about humans surviving in a post-apocalyptic world, posted strong viewership numbers.
Naughty Dog has been developing the multiplayer title for at least four years. It started as a complementary mode to The Last of Us: Part II, the single-player game released in 2020, but the creators grew ambitious and decided to make it into its own game, Naughty Dog said.
Sony has invested heavily in "games as a service," or video games designed to be monetised beyond their initial sales through ongoing purchases.
As part of that push it asked another of its video game studios, Seattle-based Bungie, to evaluate the games
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