The Last of Us Part 2
Now that The Last of Us Part 2 has come and gone, speculation now turns to what Naughty Dog is doing next. Part 3? Uncharted 5? Something new? And yet I think we’re forgetting one key thing that Naughty Dog talked about a long, long time ago, meaning we’re not quite done with Last of Us Part 2 just yet.
Factions multiplayer.
Back when The Last of Us Part 2 was revealing different bits of itself to the public, Naughty Dog answered the multiplayer question way back in September 2019:
“We wanted to address multiplayer in The Last of Us: Part II. As we’ve stated, the single player campaign is far and away the most ambitious project Naughty Dog has ever undertaken. Likewise, as development began on the evolution of our Factions mode from The Last of Us: Part I, the vision of the team grew beyond an additional mode that could be included with our enormous single player campaign. Wanting to support both visions, we made the difficult choice that The Last of Us: Part II would not include an online mode.”
“However, you will eventually experience the fruits of our team’s online ambition, but not as part of The Last of Us: Part II. When and where it will be realized is still to be determined. But rest assured, we are as big a fan as Factions as the rest of our community and are excited to share more when it’s ready.”
The Last of Us
I have heard almost no one talking about this as Naughty Dog’s next project, and I myself had even forgotten about it until it came up on Twitter a few days ago, but this seems like it’s going to be something we see launching on PS5, and I wouldn’t be shocked to see it in 2021.
The Last of Us’s original Factions multiplayer was a part of the craze of every single player game needing to have a multiplayer mode for a limited time, and while that often went poorly for many games where it seemed tacked-on, Factions actually developed quite a fanbase, and is thought of fondly by most players to this day.
It seems that Naughty Dog wants to build on that, and I would not be surprised to see a much larger investment in Factions this time around, especially judging by that statement they released almost a year ago.
At first I thought maybe they could tie this in with a Last of Us Part 2 special PS5 edition, but it seems like that needs to happen sooner rather than later, and I’d be amazed if we hit the launch of PS5 without The Last of Us Part 2 being “enhanced’ in some way for the system. And Sony might be forced to follow Microsoft’s “Smart Delivery” lead and not charge $60 again for a new version like they did with TLOU Remastered last gen.
The Last of Us Part 2
Rather, I can see TLOU 2’s Faction multiplayer coming later down the line, likely as a free release, likely as something that is supported by a battle pass and slate of cosmetic microtransactions. I could foresee them doing the original Factions model with its different modes, but also something like a smaller scale battle royale concept, where players stalk each other on a map in the vein of PUBG style gameplay, perhaps. Old Factions plus new concepts to make it worth being a standalone title, and something that would support a F2P monetization model.
In short, despite the silence, I would imagine that Naughty Dog is very much working on Factions as its next project. No, it won’t be as major as a full sequel, but this seems like something they’ll want to get out as a revenue generator, and then they’ll probably move on in full to their next big project, and I’m guessing much of the studio already has, as it won’t take everyone to do Factions.
But yeah, it seems like it may be time for an update about this after nearly a year, so hopefully we hear something soon.
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