Might Naughty Dog Salvage Something For A Easier ‘Last Of Us Factions 2’?

Sony and Naughty Dog have suffered an enormous blow this week, saying the cancellation of The Last of Us Factions, or The Last of Us Online, as they had been calling it. The venture has been in growth for years and years, with multiplayer developed partly alongside The Last of Us Part II, which started manufacturing in 2014.

Now, all these years and the time and money spent seem like wasted. Naughty Dog finally realized that to truly launch and assist the sport as a reside service providing, it could take the eye of the complete studio. As in, no extra of the only participant video games it’s been recognized for, at the least for the indefinite future.

But I discover myself questioning, is there something that could possibly be salvaged from this mess?

One constant concern that’s come up throughout this entire factor is that each one any participant wished from Naughty Dog right here was a TLOU2 sequel to TLOU1’s Factions multiplayer mode, a surprisingly good connected MP shooter mode that appeared ripe for growth within the sequel. Instead, Sony and Naughty Dog obtained far out over their skis, taking that concept and blowing it up into some sprawling, seasonal, battle pass-infused, microtransaction-having reside service recreation that might hold pumping out new content material. That was when it grew to become too unwieldy to reside.

I hold fascinated by Overwatch, how that recreation rose from the ashes of a a lot bigger idea, Project Titan, and have become its personal factor that (for at the least a short while at launch) ended up as essentially the most thrilling factor in multiplayer gaming.

Here, and whereas I perceive that is type of being the ultimate armchair dev, I’m questioning if as a substitute of some large, countless reside recreation, if there’s something from the multiplayer fight right here that could possibly be made into you realize, simply Factions 2. Not reside, not countless. Just a smaller scale multiplayer addition to TLOU2 that everybody wished within the first place. Players would get what they initially wished, and Naughty Dog wouldn’t must throw away what, 5 plus years of labor fully?

Again, we do not know if what The Last of Us Online grew to become would certainly be capable of convert over right into a extra customary Factions multiplayer. There had been indications there have been issues like an precise battle royale mode, amongst different additions. But it simply looks like a disgrace to scrap what Naughty Dog devs themselves were saying was incredibly fun multiplayer. Again, the issue right here was the dimensions, the reside service of all of it. It doesn’t seem like “oh they couldn’t make a fun to play MP shooter.”

This could also be completely inconceivable, I acknowledge that. But we’ve seen different video games salvaged from greater messes, and with much less time invested within the unique venture. Perhaps that is “cope,” however I’ve to imagine there may be one thing that could possibly be dug out of this mess to characterize the work Naughty Dog has carried out on this for half a decade, relatively than 100% of it by no means seeing the sunshine of day.

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Pick up my sci-fi novels the Herokiller series and The Earthborn Trilogy.