Following the delay of the upcoming The Last of Us multiplayer game Naughty Dog has been working on, there have been rumors of its cancellation floating around the internet.
These rumors, which many linked to voices whispering about trouble among developers dedicated to Sony's extensive game-as-a-service initiative, on top of recent layoffs at Bungie and more reported at Naughty Dog itself, appear to be greatly exaggerated.
Today the game director of the multiplayer game Vinit Agarwal confirmed on X (Formerly Twitter) that he's "still working on that game."
While the tweet may seem a bit vague, Agarwal displays clearly on his X profile "Game Director @Naughty_Dog on The Last of Us online project."
He added that bit to an otherwise unrelated post about an achievement in Super Mario Bros. Wondrer so that it "can leave in peace," as fans would have flooded it with questions about the TLOU multiplayer game, which is exactly what happened with Agarwal's previous tweets.
At the moment, not much is known about the game. It was originally announced in 2019 in the run-up to the release of The Last of Us Part II.
Since then, it has only been teased with the occasional art drop and the mention that it's "a fresh, new experience from the studio, but one rooted in Naughty Dog’s passion for delivering incredible stories, characters, and gameplay."
Naughty Dog promised news this year but then explained that it needs more time in the oven, while also revealing that the studio is working on another single-player experience.
It's worth mentioning that Naughty Dog has over 400 employees as of July when former co-President Evan Wells retired and a new leadership team took the helm, so they should have plenty of manpower available to work on two games.
Ultimately, we'll have to wait and see. Sony will host its quarterly financial conference call next week, and it's very possible that it'll receive an update about the state of its GAAS initiative.
