Despite reports that The Last of Us multiplayer development has stalled, director says he’s still working on it

Nov. 5, 2023

This will they, won’t they is a real rollercoaster for fans

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A standalone multiplayer The Last of Us game, known as Factions 2, has been in and out of the limelight of recent, with layoffs and other obstacles making it seem as though the game would never come to fruition. Thankfully, we now have confirmation fromNaughty Doggame director Vinit Agarwal thatthe game is still being worked on.

It’s a bit of a strange reveal, couched in a post celebrating Agarwal’s success in clearing all the Special World courses in Super Mario World.

“Yes, I’m still working on that game” the post says after a little nod to all the fallen Marios that got him where he is today. There’s little doubt that he’s referencing the frequently asked question of whether Factions 2 is still underway. Essentially, he’s trying to mitigate the fact that anything he posts now would inevitably become inundated with fans of the original The Last of Us game’s multiplayer mode begging for a standalone game. And when the game is apparently “much bigger than a mode”, I can understand their desperation.

Earlier this year, Naughty Dog diverted resources away from the Factions 2 multiplayer project following a bad internal review fromBungie. And with the gamereportedly “on ice"at this point, there’s been little hope for the project’s revival.

Well, now we have heard it from the director himself - something’s going on behind the scenes. Whether that means actual work is being done to get the game finished, or simply that the odd secret meeting is being held, in the dark places where Bungie can’t hurt them, is another matter.

“Tell Bungie they need to fix their own game before putting yours on ice” one commenter says, encouragingly.

You can check out ourupcoming PS5 gamesguide for a look over all the exclusive titles set to launch later this year and beyond.

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Katie is a freelance writer covering everything from video games to tabletop RPGs. She is a designer of board games herself and a former Hardware Writer over at PC Gamer.

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