Naughty Dog Is Developing Multiple Single-Player Games

12/14/2023 07:58 pm EST

Naughty Dog has confirmed it is working on multiple single-player games right now. Naughty Dog is one of the most respected video game developers out there, having worked on iconic franchises like Jak, Crash Bandicoot, Uncharted, and perhaps most notably, The Last of Us. The developer has proven it is capable of telling rich, premium stories that combine cinematic elements with engaging gameplay. It has also been able to subsequently adapt some of its game and achieve the same success as it did with its games. The studio has had a few multiplayer efforts in addition to its single-player work, but they were always put in as a side offering to the story modes. That was meant to change sometime this generation with a multiplayer spin-off of The Last of Us.

Unfortunately, Naughty Dog confirmed today that The Last of Us multiplayer game, dubbed simply The Last of Us Online, is dead. The game was cancelled after reports of a troubled production and years of little to no concrete details about what it would even look like. It's a pretty big disappointment, but the developer made it clear this decision was for the best. Naughty Dog would have to abandon its roots as a single-player studio to support a live-service game for many years, resulting in their single-player games getting sacrificed in the process. Given the studio is so beloved for these games, that's a fair reason. Naughty Dog did reassure fans that The Last of Us Online was not the only game the studio was working on. In fact, Naughty Dog is working on multiple "ambitious" single player games as we speak, as confirmed within a new blog post.

"We are immensely proud of everyone at the studio that touched this project," said Naughty Dog. "The learnings and investments in technology from this game will carry into how we develop our projects and will be invaluable in the direction we are headed as a studio. We have more than one ambitious, brand new single player game that we're working on here at Naughty Dog, and we cannot wait to share more about what comes next when we're ready."

As of right now, we have no idea what those projects are. Naughty Dog hasn't released a brand new game since 2020 when The Last of Us Part II was released. The studio has released a remake of the first game and is gearing up to remaster the sequel, but that's about all we know right now. It can be assumed that The Last of Us Part III is in the works, but Naughty Dog has played pretty coy about the project. It has also been heavily rumored that the studio has a new sci-fi game in the works. Some feared that the rumored new IP would hurt the development of a new Last of Us game, but it sounds like that may not be the case. It could also be a new Uncharted game, but Naughty Dog has seemingly tried to put some distance between itself and that series in recent years.

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