One of gaming's most talked-about cancellations just got a lot more painful. The Last of Us Online, Naughty Dog's scrapped multiplayer spinoff, was approximately 80% complete before the studio shut it down, according to reporting by Game Developer. The project's director revealed he spent seven years working on the game before it was canceled.
That timeline is staggering when you put it into context. Seven years is longer than most studios take to ship an entire franchise. The fact that the game reached the 80% threshold before being killed suggests this wasn't an early-stage pivot - Naughty Dog was deep into production on what could have been a significant live-service title.
Why it was canceled
Naughty Dog announced the cancellation in December 2023, citing the unsustainable demands of running a live-service game alongside its single-player projects. The studio framed it as a choice between maintaining its identity as a narrative-focused developer or committing the resources necessary to compete in the live-service space long-term. Given the brutal landscape of live-service failures in recent years, it wasn't a completely unreasonable call.
Still, 80% complete is a brutal number to sit with. That's not a canceled prototype or a concept that didn't pan out - that's a nearly finished game that players will almost certainly never get to touch. For the developers who poured years into it, this revelation adds another layer to what was already a tough outcome.
What this means for Naughty Dog
The studio has since refocused entirely on single-player experiences, with The Last of Us Part III reportedly in development alongside other unannounced projects. Whether walking away from a nearly-complete live-service game turns out to be the right call will depend heavily on what Naughty Dog delivers next.
For the broader industry, this story is another data point in the ongoing reckoning around live-service ambitions. Publishers and studios poured enormous resources into the genre throughout the early 2020s, with many high-profile efforts either canceled outright or struggling to find audiences post-launch. Naughty Dog's decision to cut its losses - even at 80% completion - reflects just how risky and resource-intensive the live-service model can be, even for a studio with the pedigree and backing they have.
Seven years of work. Eighty percent done. Gone. It's the kind of development story that sticks with you.
