We’ve been expecting Naughty Dog to officially pull the plug on The Last of Us’ online multiplayer project any moment now, but apparently it does still have a small team dedicated to incubating the idea. And the project’s Game Director, who previously hadn’t tweeted since the end of August, has provided a small update.
As part of a couple of posts about Super Mario Wonder, Vinit Agarwal teased: “Yes, I’m still working on that game.” The Game Director had previously been super enthusiastic about the project, describing it as one of the Californian developer’s “biggest efforts ever” and “a dream”. But earlier in the year, reports emerged that development had been scaled back, after fellow first-party studio Bungie had questioned whether the release would keep players engaged.
It’s unclear how many people are working on the game right now, and what kind of launch timeline it’s aiming to follow. In October, it was suggested that the project is “basically on ice”, but it sounds like Agarwal remains committed to it. Of course, it’s all just speculation until Naughty Dog actually comes out and publicly clarifies the situation.
[source twitter.com]
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Hola PlayStation
Imagine if Naughty Dog worked on anything else other than TLOU. Wouldn't that be interesting?
@Nepp67 I always liked Uncharted more than TLoU (except the jetski level haha)
@Nepp67 I am of the opinion that the late 80s to early 00s was the golden age of gaming as back then developers took risks, launched new ip and of course had yet to invent the microtransaction.
The problem today is, devs just stick to like 1 or 2 franchises each, which of course makes them serious money but has also pretty much killed any true creativity or variety. ND with TLOU, Rockstar with GTA, Epic with Fortnite etc.
Always thought that it was still a thing, just being reconsidered/reconfigured post bungies appraisal… regardless of what FUD-slinging bots would have us believe.
@Nepp67 If I remember correctly, one of their teams is working on a new IP.
His choice of words kind of tells me "that game" is now far from a priority, though.
Honestly, I think it's best not to expect anything out of ND period, for the foreseeable future. Factions was clearly their main focus for years and that work largely went down the drain, so anything else they've got in the oven will be a long way from completion.
@Nepp67 they have only made 2 Last of Us games and 4th Uncharted with also an Expansion. Ppl be talking like this is the 8th game in the series.
Since all this news of the game being in turmoil, I've thought it could be added to the Last of us part 3. They might even reuse the assets and areas from the multiplayer game to save some time in part 3s' development. Could part 3 be set in San Francisco?
Wonder if it’ll be moved to a single player game and be Sony’s answer to State of Decay within the Last of Us universe?
I agree with @Gaia093 though - the use of wording implies it’s really not that big of a deal anymore for Vinit..
Fair point, it's not a super generic scifi 1st person shooter. So very unlikely to hold any interest for long.
@LifeGirl That's because your memory is just cherry-picking. Games were even more relentlessly similar in the 80s and much of the 90s, with endless clones of various arcade hits flooding everything. And about ten trillion generic platformers and side-scrolling shooters. And because games were more basic both in gameplay and graphics, and rarely had any story, they couldn't distinguish themselves from each other.
>"They had yet to invent the microtransaction(s)"
Well, in fact the original microtransactions were credits in the arcades. Entire games were based around them. It's why lives exist in games and why the games were so difficult - you paid for lives with money. Imagine now if you and your friend played 40 games of Street Fighter 6 (maybe that'd take between 1 to 2 hours) and it cost you £20 each. Well in the good old days, that's how it was. Also imagine most games costing between £80 to £120 in modern money and taking 30 minutes to 3 hours to complete.
tl;dr it was honestly pretty awful back then when you get away from stuff like Mario and LttP, MGS and FF, etc.
Goody goody gum drops, just return to being a top developer and give us an actual new game at this point rather than a remaster or a "remake"...
After what’s been happening with Bungie of late, I definitely think that the multiplayer Factions 2 is probably a lot better than we are led to believe. You know what Sony and Naughty Dog should do? How about they release what they have so far as a beta so that we, the gamers can make our own minds up. If it’s not worth our time (and eventual money) then we can voice the opinion, rather than have Bungie who have a vested interest in their own title conquering all telling Sony that it’s not worth it. Neil Druckmann is a bit of a controversial so and so, but as far as gameplay goes, I thought the Last of us 2 was pretty good. It was just the story decisions that didn’t work for me personally., so I genuinely think that Factions 2 would have played pretty good.
@STOBO I remember there being TLoU PS3, TLoU Remastered PS4, TLoU 2 PS4, TLoU Remake PC, and TLoU Remake PS5.
So, five games of TLoU. I may have missed one.
Edit: Also TLoU Left Behind DLC
@Monstermash40
I think this would be the best case scenario for the game too. Plus it would put a lot less pressure on the multiplayer to sell itself.
All I ever really wanted was Factions 1 with better balance and TLOU2 mechanics. It never needed all the live service stuff.
For all we know, Factions 2 could be a great game. But when it comes to live service games their success is solely based on their ability to rake in big cash from the 1% of biggest spenders, aka "whales", and not on how fun they are to play.
i’ll be waiting
I think they might just bundle it with the tlou 2 remaster/director cut
@Nepp67 they are?
@Matroska But you were paying to play arcade games. You don't buy modern microtransactions to play a game. They're just shiny, superfluous items that do nothing, and are consistently updated to generate a profit. Some go for around £30 and that's usually just for a couple of outfits. It's grotesque. But for some serious cynicism, check out Star Citizen.
I've not really stopped playing Factions from the first game (via Tlou Remastered) and its still as brilliant as it was.
I'm not the best at getting kills but the game helps you if you're losing by giving you more stuff, and I help my teammates with gifting and healing.
@dschons God I hope you're right because we are just way too far into this gen rn.
I'd guess what happens is they go back to the original plan where Factions 2 is part of TLoU 2 and it ends up being in the rumoured $70 remaster.
@LifeGirl That is why I'm of the opinion that since games are taking a hell of a lot longer to make to stop with the sequels and just make one game and try to make a new one.
Imagine how annoying it must be to work at a studio like ND, be dedicating time, energy, and resources into a project the likes of which your studio has never before done. Then to have chodes from Bungie come in and completely derail your efforts because they claim it can't reach or maintain an audience (for whatever reason they gave).
But meanwhile, that same studio is failing at numerous levels to appease its own waning player base, destroying trust at every turn, eroding trust month after month... And it was THEY who claim to be the experts. My lord. Just IMAGINE.
I have to believe that ND was working on something truly unique in the modern mp space, but Bungie said it didn't have enough confounding game systems and obscure currencies "to keep players hooked" or whatever GaaS aim for nowadays. So instead of embracing quality gameplay and having players come back because it's fun (what a concept!) Bungie convinced ND and Sony that it wasn't up to snuff.
And now look how Bungie is doing... what a shame.
@OmegaStriver You're also missing TLOU 2 Remastered edition when TLOU S2 comes out for advertising.
Fingers crossed we get to see it some day. But tbh I'm ready for them to move on and leave TLoU behind.
@MFTWrecks Well said.
@MFTWrecks I think there's a much bigger discussion to be had about whether people play online multiplayer games for fun anymore in the PS/Xbox space or is it just because of psychological tactics trapping them into a grind.
Just please ignore what Bungie has to say about it ok? I’m still hoping it gets released as I loved Factions and I generally hate GaaS games.
They've been a victim of TLOU's success. Just stuck on the franchise now, sequels, remasters, GaaS spin offs. All thef talent constrained to one grim world.
Imagine Naughty Dog's Neil Druckmann visiting Insomnia and shutting down Spider-Man 2 because it does not have an annoying character that kills Peter Parker in the first hour of the game.
My comment is about whether or not it is a good decision to listen to anyone at Bungie. Whoever were with Bungie at the conception and development of the original game is probably LONG GONE so now it is some dead beat microtransactor with a specialty in vaulting that they sent out. My comment will age very fast when/if Concord becomes a smashhit and they actually employed the Messiah.
@Gaia093 After hearing about Factions 2 and TLOU remake, I'd pretty much written off Naughty Dog this gen already.
Maybe there'll be something late gen if we're very lucky.
@Americansamurai1 I was about to say the same thing. It was originally meant for tloUpt2, so it would come full circle
@Korgon I totally agree. I would love an old style multiplayer that didn't want you to check in everyday. I hate multiplayer games normally, I hate people, but factions was a great experience. I want that again but with TLOU2's movements.
Destiny 2 is currently falling off a cliff and if Bungie really did put the axe in Naughty Dogs multiplayer game like rumors have suggested maybe the studio ( Naughty Dog ) should call into question their so called expertise. We all know different games stick for different reasons, I have hundreds if not thousands of hours in FromSoft games with invasions. Call of Duty sticks, Fortnite sticks, Candy crush sticks, ***** even Pokemon Go is still sticking and non of these games are the same. I say let the people see it, if it looks bad like Suicide Squad or something like that they'll know right away and they can move forward from that point how they choose.
I figure the game is mostly done but it's the longer term engagement and business model that needs work.
@Grumblevolcano For sure. But seeing how ND created a surprise cult hit with the original Factions tacked onto TLOU and it had a small, but dedicated fan base for years, my point is I bet they were going for that sort of "attract a specific, yet rabid fan base" kind of feel/design philosophy. They were probably okay with it growing organically and what have you. But Bungie prolly strolled in and was like, "Oh, but this doesn't support endless skins and monetization across multiple currencies. How are you going to charge $40 multiple times a year for storylines?" etc etc. And Sony just nodded along and was all, "Welp. You heard 'em, ND. This MUST be *****! Back to the drawing board!"
@STOBO Technically 6 Uncharted games if you count Lost Legacy and Golden Abyss lol
@MFTWrecks I agree that what Bungie did was wrong and Jim Ryan shouldn't have given them control over Sony's other studios (shouldn't have acquired Bungie in the first place either).
I would say that the original Factions had an advantage in the sense that it was bundled with the TLoU single player campaign. Like many games of that era, you'd get it for the single player and check out the multiplayer while you're there.
I think the best chance for Factions 2 taking off in the traditional sense (playerbase sticking because the game is fun) would've been a GoT Legends type release approach. You can buy it standalone or as part of a bigger bundle that includes a single player release (in Factions 2's case, standalone or as part of TLoU 2 Remastered).
@GreatKwyjibo that first trailer of Marathon they released looked so good, the style, the music. I found out it was an extraction shooter and I was instantly out, I have zero interest in that.
@Nepp67 What did Take 2 made besides GTA and RDR in the past decade?
@Icey664 But PS Vita title wasn't made by Naughty Dog.
@Sequel You know they made two games and one remake?
@Matroska Yes. Hit the nail on the head with this comment. I've said this before when "old school" gamers harp on microstranactions and gacha mechanics. Do they seriously not remember arcades where you could easily spend 10 - 20 dollars for 30 mins of gameplay? Do they not remember LJN shovelware? Carbon copy platformers with different coats of paint? The pervasive and consistently garbage licensed games in 00's?
How many amazing games have we gotten in this year alone? I am of the opinion that the industry hasn't really changed all that much aside from getting much bigger. It is like the movie industry. Has that industry changed all that much over the decades? Not really.
Gamers as individuals will change more than the industry ever will. It's an industry that has always wanted your money, and many games were and will always be more blatant that so long as we exchange money for games. Which will never stop, so pining for the good ol' days just reeks of looking back with rose tinted glasses.
@Flaming_Kaiser True, but the point is that there are a lot more Uncharted games that Last of Us games
@PegasusActual93 I totally agree man. Not only way longer, but they are appealing to more and more people. Even niche franchises and genres are picking up a lot of steam just look at the Yakuza series and fighting games right now.
While quality is purely subjective. You gotta really think...we did not get games like Alan Wake 2, Baulder's Gate, or Tears of the Kingdom back in those days. I would even very much argue that masterpiece games like Resident Evil 4 were remade even better in this year, the original Dead Space as well.
But it's fine if you prefer games of that time. There was a charm to them, but I would go as far as to say that feeling, comes more from my own naiveté from being young and more full of wonder than how games actually were, and the nostalgic feeling is just me trying to capture that feeling of wonderment again.
Oh well I guess the online gamers will be happy. I'm offline gaming only these online games don't feel like games to me.... I started on Atari 2600 and c64 golden era we weren't ripped off like today 🤣
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