We know work is ongoing on The Last of Us: Part II’s long-anticipated multiplayer spin-off: Naughty Dog boss Neil Druckmann more or less admitted as much on Twitter last week, pleading for patience from fans. Still, while it’s unclear how close the Factions follow-up is to releasing, we do know that the developer is continuing to flesh out its ranks with a number of multiplayer focused hires.
One such role it’s advertising right now, as spotted by GameSpot, is the position of an Economy Designer. The blurb should give you a good idea of what kind of tasks the candidate will be responsible for: “We’re looking for a passionate multiplayer economy designer who can help us create avenues for self-expression for our players, ensure robust longevity to our games, and give our players great rewards to strive for.”
The job description continues that recruitments will be required to “design and tune game economy and progression” and “collaborate extensively with [the live operations team] to optimise economy and respond to player needs”. It’s all rather vanilla stuff, but we can make a few inferences about what the future of The Last of Us’ multiplayer will look like based on this.
Effectively, it sounds like Naughty Dog is looking to build a very “sticky” type of experience, with regular updates, like we see with Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War or Fortnite. Obviously, the franchise has its own distinctive style of gameplay, but we wouldn’t be shocked to see the developer double down on post-release support here.
Naturally, the word “economy” will lead readers directly to microtransactions, and while we anticipate this title will have all the trappings of a modern multiplayer game – a Battle Pass, for example, feels nailed on – it’s worth noting that it very much appears to be referring to in-game economies here; this position is being advertised because Naughty Dog wants to “give our players great rewards to strive for”.
Hopefully we get to see what it’s been cooking in the not-too distant future.
[source naughtydog.com, via gamespot.com]
Comments 30
Factions was sooo good. Can't wait for this.
Please dont let these brilliant game developers turn into a crappy turn into a R* with two games in two full generations with liveservice online crap as only thing. Or a liveservice crapfest like Fortshite or COD good for them but please Sony dont go this route or im not even going for the PS5.
@Flaming_Kaiser I think The Last of Us has huge potential to be a staple multiplayer game on PS5, but they're not going to abandon their single player stuff.
They can do both.
@Grimwood Dont agree on that i loved KZ3 multiplayer it was a fantastic.
Let's hope this latest multiplayer endeavor from Sony turns out much better than freaking Destruction AllStars.
@RBMango Hey, @Quintumply read that!
As much as I'm looking forward to this (Factions), I'd rather see it as a one-shot and done thing, rather than a keep playing, keep paying sort of car wreck. I don't want to play it forever, no matter how good it may be. I want new games. And new one-shot multiplayer experiences from them. Make a game, move along.
Sounds like they are building Factions Gaas instead of Factions 2.
Hell it may not even resemble Factions in the end.
Factions was my favorite multiplayer. I’ve got low expectations for whatever they put out now.
@Medic_Alert @OmegaStriver
My fears exactly.
@get2sammyb I agree it was great fun but i dont want too see it go the R* route thats the only thing. They made two games in a decade which i didnt like and liveservice the thing i hate with a passion (again nothing wrong with the quality of the games).
@LordSteev If its make support it with things like skins or something if its free then they need make some cash of it otherwise why bother.
@get2sammyb Context?
I don’t mind paying for a battle pass if it’s got decent content
Seems kinda crazy they are only now hiring for this. How far away is this thing? (if it is factions)
not for me , they should be concentrating on a new ip or the sequel. we have mp developers let them do their thing and keep the single person experience intact. if it aint broke dont fix it. mp to me is like a mobile game not good.
Kate Gray at Nintendo Life just wrote a good article about the pyschology behind rewards in gaming:
https://www.nintendolife.com/news/2021/03/soapbox_why_do_people_love_games_like_stardew_valley_and_animal_crossing
The original Factions is the only MP game other than Mario Kart that I truly love.
They kind of borked it towards the end by releasing new weapons that you could only use as part of a set loadout unless you paid to unlock them, but until then it felt perfectly balanced.
It was a proper thrill to play.
Can't say I'm that interested in this, more keen to know about the upgraded PS5 version and also what SP title they're working on next.
@Flaming_Kaiser they see where the money is, they see the 🤑🤑🤑🤑 signs in their eyes, it's inevitable imo
Do people not remember they have been doing this with all their multiplayer offerings? This type of stuff was in the Uncharted multiplayer, and all multiplayer games really. This shouldn't be concerning at all.
@Jslade Yep, clearly anyone complaining has never played Uncharted or TLOU multiplayer before.
I don't think this is going to be like fractions on the first last of us in fact I think they have come out and said it won't back when tou2 was released. Going to get alot of hate for this but id love them to go down route of much bigger fractions and levels even maybe much more open fractions mode.
zero interest
Bring it on naughty dog phyced
FactNite.
can't see how factions' 4v4 style of gameplay would be able to sustain longevity, outside a small dedicated community, so it could be something very different.
Interiested in this . Really enjoyed uncharted co op in Drake's Deception.
@Flaming_Kaiser hush
@Taylorzombie Great movie you should watch it on Netflix.
@Flaming_Kaiser lol no you didn't
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