Following the release of The Last of Us Part 2 in 2020, developer Naughty Dog had plans to launch a standalone multiplayer game. Prior to the base game’s PS4 debut, the developer confirmed this multiplayer aspect would not be released alongside Part 2, as had been expected.
Back in 2019, Naughty Dog explained its efforts to evolve The Last of Us Part 1’s multiplayer Factions mode for the sequel “grew beyond an additional mode that could be included with our enormous single player campaign” and therefore it would release separately.
The project then hit a number of stumbling blocks, with Naughty Dog stating more time was required as recently as May 2023. But, despite this, the studio maintained the game was coming up until last December, when The Last of Us’ standalone multiplayer project was ultimately cancelled.