The Multiplayer Last Of Us Game Sounds Like Sony's Big Live Service Headliner

thegamer.com:

Sony has been pretty clear about its intention to make a big splash in the live-service market. During an earnings call this past February, chief financial officer Hiroki Totoki explained that the Bungie acquisition was strategic: Sony intends to leverage the studio’s expertise in live service to develop a slate of games - ten in total - by 2026. At the time, Totoki referenced a “major new IP” that was already in development, presumably Bungie’s next game which is rumored to launch in 2025, but didn’t offer any specifics about these planned live service games. At the time, the only upcoming multiplayer games we were aware of from Sony were Twisted Metal and The Last of us Part 2’s standalone multiplayer mode, colloquially known as Factions 2.

During this week’s Summer Game Fest showcase, Naughty Dog co-president Neil Druckmann took to the stage to offer something of an update on Factions 2. Druckmann shared some concept art for the game and explained that, while the studio still isn’t ready to show us the game, the initial idea has expanded dramatically. Druckman says it will be “as big as any of our single player games, and in some ways bigger.” If there was any doubt that this wouldn’t be one of Sony’s upcoming live-service games, Druckmann certainly put that idea to rest. There’s simply no way that Sony is investing this kind of time and money into a multiplayer game in 2022 unless it's part of its big live-service initiative, and the sooner we reckon with that, the better.

I’m a huge sucker for live-service, but I know a lot of people - particularly fans of Sony’s prestige single-player experiences - consider it a four-letter word. While it’s safe to assume that Naughty Dog will forge its own path in the live service