The Last of Us Online has been cancelledbyNaughty Dog. While I’m bummed out that work from talented developers is being thrown out, it’s the right decision. I don’t think a live-service game from a studio primarily known for boundary-pushing narrative adventures was going to work, not to mention the resources it would require to create a huge live-service experience that could compete with an already saturated market.
After years of troubled development and brutal internal feedback from Bungie, a difficult call was made to call this project quits before it’s too late, and we also know that resources on it are now being reallocated to one of two major single player titles in the works at the studio. But before The Last of Us Online was set to become an all-encompassing behemoth, when it was little more than a multiplayer component for Part 2, I don’t think a grand vision of this scale was ever entertained. It was going to be Factions 2, and this should have been good enough.
The Last of Us Part is infamous for the crunch associated with its development, and it was only a few months before release that Factions 2 was canned to prioritise the campaign.
We now exist in a gaming world where behemoths likeFortnite,Apex Legends,Roblox, andDestinyhave stood tall for several years now, acting as platforms as much as standalone games. Battle passes and seasonal updates have helped turn these ecosystems into lifestyles all of their own, and it was only a matter of time until major developers and publishers noted the irresistible taste of this pie and wanted a slice of it. The thing is, none of them really knew how it was made.
So many have come along and tried to replicate their success, only to crash and burn with a lack of players, cynical monetization, and distinct lack of reason to exist.Gotham KnightsorMarvel’s Avengerswould have been better games if they weren’t chasing lofty trends, and, in isolation, have proven that time and time again. Kamala Khan’s campaign is the best thing to find in Avengers, and once the live-service grind became apparent, most of us checked out.
We’ve reached breaking point, and chances are, Naughty Dog realised that and decided to backpedal even if it meant sunk costs in the millions of dollars. It secures a better future, and it has the capital and industry reputation to take such a hit and keep on moving. Players will likely view this development as a net positive too, but it makes me curious if Factions 2 could ever make a return in some other, revamped form - something that isn’t a live-service giant.
Is there a chance we could see a more traditional multiplayer mode surface in The Last of Us Part 2 that reuses elements from its cancelled sibling? One that incorporates ideas into what is hopefully a less ambitious but still fulfilling experience that understands the restraint that makes games like this so much better. Factions kicked so much ass back in 2013 largely because nobody expected anything from it. The Last of Us was marketed as a new title focusing on characters and narrative above all else, to the point that many people picking the game up didn’t even know it had multiplayer until dropping into the main menu.
Suddenly we were greeted with something that was more than a selection of familiar modes awkwardly jammed into a game that didn’t fit them. Naughty Dog took the grotesque melee combat and ingenious crafting of the base game and made them invaluable parts of online play. There were satisfying rewards to be gleaned from gathering resources on the move or outsmarting your opponents, making victory achievable through more than pulling the trigger faster than your opponent. Meta elements helped too, with social media friends tied into the pseudo-campaign that took place across several matches. Win, and you’d gather resources required to keep your friends and family alive. Fail, and some might not last the day. It was only a list of names, but combined with the excellent gameplay and narrative context, it did a lot of heavy lifting. Factions 2 was going to be a live-service expansion of this, and on the surface at least, could have worked. But sustaining that winning formula isn’t the same.
It makes me think if the multiplayer modes we saw doing the rounds in almost every single triple-A game roughly a decade ago would even fly in the modern era. Will developers risk incorporating online elements into their massive projects that extend beyond leaderboards and co-op if they know competing with live service projects designed to be played for years are already eating their lunch? The days of team deathmatch and capture the flag are over, with ecosystems and natural hits on PC ruling the online roost because there is simply little room left for anything else. Lethal Company is dominating the Steam charts right now due to it offering a distinct take on horror where friendship and communication is key, while Fortnite is attracting millions of concurrent players because it never stops reinventing itself, and Epic has the budget to do this over and over again even if it means occasional lapses in attention.
Factions 2, or any other new live-service game or multiplayer mode residing outside the pantheon, doesn’t have this privilege. What it means to be an online game in 2023 is vastly different to even ten years ago, where multiplayer modes can’t be tacked on anymore to ensure player retention and extra profit from microtransactions when entire platforms have emerged as competition. To offer a multiplayer component in the traditional sense feels fruitless today unless you plan to meet the demands of the player and offer years of updates and features, a sacrifice Naughty Dog wasn’t willing to make, or at least understood the consequences of.
I’ll miss the days of jumping into half-baked multiplayer modes or spending literal days in the likes of Modern Warfare 2, awaiting each new map pack with anticipation alongside my party as we spent countless nights in private lobbies. We’ll never get those moments back, and it’s a shame that for online games of most magnitudes to exist now they must take the world on or risk fading away, because it takes that much to stick around, let alone become a star.
Next:As Factions Fades, Cheers To The Tacked On Multiplayers Down The Years
