The Last of Us Online ‘was great’, says former PlayStation boss, but Naughty Dog canceled it because otherwise it wouldn’t have been able to make Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet

LovabledanielsFebruary 20, 202558 Views

Naughty Dog canceled The Last of Us Online after hearing feedback from Bungue about making live service games according to former PlayStation boss Shuhei Yoshida
The studio realized it wouldn’t be able to make Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet if it continued with The Last of Us Online development
Yoshida also revealed he played the game before it was scrapped

According to former PlayStation executive Shuhei Yoshida, Naughty Dog couldn’t have made Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet if its The Last of Us Online spin-off wasn’t canceled.

Speaking in a recent interview with Sacred Symbols+ (via PushSquare), Yoshida discussed the decision to scrap the project, confirming that feedback offered by Destiny developer Bungie played a part in the cancelation. He also revealed that he was able to play the game before it was canceled and thought: “It was great”.

“The idea for The Last of Us Online came from Naughty Dog and they really wanted to make it,” Yoshida said. “But Bungie explained [to them] what it takes to make live service games, and Naughty Dog realized, ‘Oops, we can’t do that! If we do it, we can’t make Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet.’ So that was a lack of foresight.”

The Last of Us multiplayer was canceled in December 2023 after a reportedly four-year development. At the time, Naughty Dog explained that the decision to stop development on the title was “incredibly difficult”, but it didn’t want to “become a solely live service games studio” and that it would otherwise have to put all resources behind multiplayer projects.

“So, we had two paths in front of us: become a solely live service games studio or continue to focus on single-player narrative games that have defined Naughty Dog’s heritage,” the developer said in its initial statement.

The studio announced its new single-player game, Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet, last December. The trailer revealed it to be a new sci-fi franchise in development for PlayStation 5 and will star actor Tati Gabrielle as protagonist and bounty hunter Jordan A. Mun.