Last of Us Online Fans Started a Petition to Revive a Cancelled Game

Naughty Dog’s The Last of Us game series was about to get a full multiplayer live-service title—The Last of Us Online, also known as The Last of Us Factions. The project was confirmed to be in development for 7 years but, for various reasons, was cancelled by the developing studio—and, moreover, the decision of cancellation was made 24 hours before the game’s official reveal.

This information was recently shared by the game’s director, Vinit Agarwal, as well as the fact that the game was approximately 80% complete, and, according to him and some of his colleagues, it was “the best multiplayer game they’ve played.” Naughty Dog and The Last of Us fans still haven't given up hope that the game will be released someday and have even launched a petition on Change.org calling for development to resume. You can sign the petition here.

In any case, it’s worth noting that the Factions multiplayer mode is still available on the PS4 and PS5 versions of The Last of Us Remastered; the game’s servers are still up and running, and anyone can jump in and enjoy what was supposed to become a full-fledged The Last of Us Online. The original Factions was canceled because Naughty Dog did not want to deviate from the studio’s strategy of supporting live-service games and preferred to focus on developing single-player projects.

Naughty Dog is currently working on their new IP—Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet. However, according to rumors, the studio hasn’t forgotten about The Last of Us, and a third installment is secretly in development; it may focus on other immune survivors, as hinted at by Naughty Dog director Neil Druckmann.

Would you like to see The Last of Us Online? Are you disappointed the game was cancelled by Naughty Dog? Share your thoughts in the comments below!