Naughty Dog gave The Last of Us fans more than a few morsels to chew on for The Last of Us Day (which was previously known as Outbreak Day prior to Covid) between the photo of the upcoming HBO show and more merch. There was only one update on the gaming side of the franchise, which relates to the mysterious multiplayer project the team has been hiring up for. Naughty Dog finally spoke very briefly about this online game, but did not commit to any sort of release window.
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Senior Manager Communications Rochelle Snyder spoke about the game in a post on the Naughty Dog website. Snyder addressed the question that Naughty Dog probably has gotten asked the most since The Last of Us Part II’s release: “What are you doing with The Last of Us right now?”
“In short, we’re working on it — we see the community comments as many of you clamor for multiplayer and want updates,” said Snyder. “For now, we’ll say that we love what the team is developing and want to give them time to build out their ambitious project, we’ll reveal more when it’s ready! To that end, we’ve been busy growing our team inside the kennel since The Last of Us Part II launched and are currently in full swing of hiring for MP-related positions (hint hint), so if you or somebody you know qualifies for anything you see on our jobs page, apply!”
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Given that the team is still on a hiring spree for the multiplayer game it is making, it’s still likely pretty early and won’t be out soon, especially since the post also said Naughty Dog was being given time to “build out [its] ambitious project.” There’s no official word on exactly what this multiplayer The Last of Us game will be, but some datamined files have pointed to a battle royale being in the game at some point. It’s been quite some time so it’s unclear if any of that would be in the future title, too.
Naughty Dog also allegedly has other projects in the works, which could also be splitting up the team. A Bloomberg report from April stated that Naughty Dog was working on a remake of The Last of Us. There are various, weak rumblings about a new IP also in the works, but those mostly seem like fan theories run amok as they aren’t backed up by enough evidence.