The Final of Us gained’t be returning to its multiplayer aspect in spite of everything. Naughty Canine confirmed at the moment that it has stopped improvement on what it’s been calling The Final of Us On-line, a multiplayer TLOU expertise.

The venture has been in improvement for a while, with Naughty Canine’s Neil Druckmann taking the stage at Summer time Recreation Fest 2022 to speak about it. Exterior of idea artwork, the multiplayer endeavor has been principally quiet, with the staff saying it wanted extra time earlier this yr.

In at the moment’s assertion, the studio explains a few of its reasoning behind the choice to name off The Final of Us On-line. The multiplayer staff had been in pre-production because the studio was engaged on The Final of Us Half II. However as manufacturing continued, the dimensions of what lay earlier than them grew to become a bit of extra clear.

“In ramping as much as full manufacturing, the large scope of our ambition grew to become clear. To launch and help The Final of Us On-line we’d must put all our studio assets behind supporting publish launch content material for years to return, severely impacting improvement on future single-player video games. So, we had two paths in entrance of us: develop into a solely stay service video games studio or proceed to concentrate on single-player narrative video games which have outlined Naughty Canine’s heritage.”

With that, it seems like Naughty Canine is sticking to single-player choices. The studio states it has “multiple bold, model new single participant sport” it’s working one, and can share extra when the staff is prepared.

What’s left of us

Whereas followers of the story-driven choices from Naughty Canine could be relieved at that assertion, it’s an fascinating wrinkle within the live-service plans of Sony. In 2022, Sony was queued as much as ship a large swath of live-service titles, with 12 arriving by the tip of its fiscal yr 2025.

Final month, although, Sony delayed half of that slate. That, coupled with prior reviews about The Final of Us‘ multiplayer setbacks, makes the entire live-service plan look shaky. Stories additionally got here out about Bungie, one other Sony studio engaged on the large live-service FPS Future 2, and the struggles that studio is encountering following a wave of layoffs.

For The Final of Us, not less than, there may be some solar on the horizon. Naughty Canine is releasing The Final of Us Half II Remastered for PS5 very quickly, with some misplaced ranges and a brand new roguelike mode. It could be sufficient to melt the blow for the weary Factions hopefuls.