For many fans, the cancellation of The Last of Us Online remains one of the greatest tragedies in modern gaming. Because the project was scrapped before launch, players never truly got to see if it lived up to the massive hype surrounding its development.

However, former game director Vinit Agarwal recently shared a glowing review of the lost title. While reminiscing on the project over the weekend, Agarwal called his "cancelled baby" the best multiplayer game the team had ever played.

"It’s wild how many of my ex-colleagues still message me today saying how amazing TLOU Online was going to be," Agarwal expressed.

The ambitious scope of The Last of Us Online

Following the massive success of the multiplayer mode in the original The Last of Us, Naughty Dog initially planned to expand the concept within The Last of Us Part 2. However, the scale of the project eventually outgrew the single-player framework.

In 2019, the studio explained that the project had grown beyond an additional mode that could be included with an enormous single-player campaign. As a result, the developers shifted focus toward creating a fully-fledged The Last of Us Online spin-off.

Why Naughty Dog cancelled the multiplayer spin-off

Recent claims suggest that The Last of Us Online was much closer to reality than many realize. Agarwal claimed that the project was developed to roughly 80 percent completion before the axe fell.

According to Agarwal, the cancellation was the result of a difficult departmental choice:

  • Continue development on the multiplayer spin-off.
  • Prioritize the next major project directed by Neil Druckmann.

The decision proved devastating for the development team. Agarwal revealed that he only found out his project had been cancelled just 24 hours before the "soul-crushing" public announcement. In response to the setback, Agarwal ended his recent post with a vow: "Never going to let what I work on not see the light of day again. Thank you all for your support and confidence!"

Speculation on Neil Druckmann's next project

It is widely assumed that the project prioritized over the multiplayer title is Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet. At the end of 2025, Naughty Dog reportedly enforced mandatory overtime to ensure an internal demo for this project was completed.

While the next iteration of the TLOU Factions mode remains banished to the shadow realm, there is hope it might reappear in some form. There was a unique charm to the era when single-player games featured integrated multiplayer modes; even when they weren't hits, they always offered something interesting to the player base.