The Last of Us Online reportedly consumed a significant portion of Naughty Dog‘s resources for years, with Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet only becoming the studio’s primary focus after the multiplayer project was cancelled.

Naughty Dog has been unusually quiet when it comes to completely new releases during the current PlayStation generation, and we may now have a better idea of why.

Although The Last of Us Online was ultimately cancelled in 2023, the ambitious multiplayer game was reportedly far more than a secondary project being developed alongside Naughty Dog’s next major single-player title.

Instead, a substantial portion of the studio was focused on the game, with Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet only becoming Naughty Dog’s main priority following its cancellation.

The Last of Us Online Wasn’t Just a Side Project

The new information comes from Bloomberg journalist Jason Schreier, who discussed Sony’s troubled push into live-service gaming and the effect the strategy had on several PlayStation studios.

The Last of Us Online became one of the most notable casualties of that strategy.

When Naughty Dog officially cancelled the project in 2023, the developer explained that its ambitions for the multiplayer game had grown enormously.

Bringing it to market would have required the studio to dedicate significant resources to supporting and creating post-launch content for years.

Naughty Dog ultimately faced a choice: become primarily a live-service studio or continue developing the narrative-driven single-player games for which it had become known.

The studio chose the latter.

However, according to Schreier, The Last of Us Online had already consumed a significant amount of Naughty Dog’s development resources before that decision was made.

A large portion of the studio was reportedly working on the multiplayer project alongside various remakes and remasters connected to The Last of Us.

That means the project wasn’t simply being developed by a small secondary team while Naughty Dog’s next major single-player game received most of the studio’s attention.

It was one of the developer’s biggest priorities.

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Intergalactic Became the Priority After The Last of Us Online Was Cancelled

The cancellation finally allowed Naughty Dog to redirect significantly more resources toward Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet.

The new sci-fi IP was officially revealed during The Game Awards 2024, introducing players to protagonist Jordan A. Mun and an entirely new universe for the studio.

However, very little has been shown since that initial reveal.

The reported development situation surrounding The Last of Us Online could help explain why.

Naughty Dog’s last completely original release was The Last of Us Part II in 2020. Since then, the studio has released remakes and remasters, while spending years developing a multiplayer project that ultimately never reached players.

That puts Naughty Dog close to six years without releasing an entirely new game.

Intergalactic is now the studio’s primary project, although rumors have also suggested that another Uncharted game could be in development.

There is still no confirmed release date for Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet.

Sony’s Live-Service Push Has Left Several Casualties

The Last of Us Online also provides another example of how heavily Sony invested in expanding PlayStation into live-service gaming.

Several projects connected to that strategy have encountered significant problems.

Concord was quickly shut down following its disastrous launch, while other multiplayer projects based on established PlayStation franchises have reportedly been cancelled or reworked.

More recently, Horizon Hunters Gathering was reported to be undergoing a major overhaul following negative playtest feedback, with its live-service elements reportedly being removed in favor of a smaller and more traditional cooperative multiplayer experience.

For Naughty Dog, abandoning The Last of Us Online meant walking away from years of development, but it also allowed the studio to return its attention to the kind of large-scale single-player projects that established its reputation.

Now, much of that attention is firmly on Intergalactic.

Whether the years spent developing The Last of Us Online will ultimately result in a longer-than-expected wait for Naughty Dog’s next original release remains to be seen.

Would you still like to see The Last of Us Online eventually return, or did Naughty Dog make the right decision by shifting its resources toward Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet? Let us know in the comments below.