By Toby Saunders

Published: Thursday, 05 January 2023 at 12:00 am


In what feels like an age ago, Naughty Dog confirmed that it was working on a standalone Last of Us 2 multiplayer game. It’s been a while since it was confirmed and fans are wondering what has happened to the project and whether or not the Factions sequel is still happening.

The game is set to be a large-scale follow-up to the Factions multiplayer mode of the original Last of Us on PlayStation 3. While it was sad that we didn’t get the mode as part of TLOU 2, it seems we could be in store for something even better.

Naughty Dog is working hard behind the scenes to deliver a standalone multiplayer experience that is “ambitious,” “fresh,” and rooted in what the studio does best with stories, gameplay, and characters. Colour us intrigued.

Read on for the latest updates on The Last of Us 2 multiplayer game and to find out whether it is still happening or not, as well as our best guess as to when we might see more of it materialise.

Is the Last of Us 2 multiplayer still happening?

Yes, the Last of Us 2 standalone multiplayer game is still happening. Naughty Dog confirmed the existence of a standalone Last of Us online multiplayer game in June 2022 but has kept quiet on the project since. Fortunately, it is still very much on the way – and it can’t come soon enough.

As of 4th January 2023, a brand-new piece of concept art was shared by Neil Druckmann on the Naughty Dog blog. It’s very The Last of Us and even features a crumbling, rusty cruise ship. It gives us an idea of the scale and scope of what we can expect from what promises to be a fully-fledged, large-scale online game. Check out the new concept art below:

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Druckmann doesn’t only show just a piece of concept art. He explains in the blog post that “later this year” Naughty Dog “will begin to offer [us] some details on [its] ambitious The Last of Us multiplayer game”.

With the 10th anniversary of the original game coming this June, we think that might be a good time for the studio to give us more details on the multiplayer game.

We are told, too, that “the project is shaping up to be a fresh, new experience” from the development team, “but one rooted in Naughty Dog’s passion for delivering incredible stories, characters, and gameplay”. Sorry, that might not have made the wait any easier.

We’ll update this page with any new information that comes to light, but until then, we can just imagine the large-scale online multiplayer experience something as dramatic as The Last of Us can offer.

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