Naughty Dog Releases Message on Why The Last of Us Part II Will Not Have A Multiplayer Mode - News
by William D'Angelo , posted on 01 October 2019 / 3,205 Views
Naughty Dog has released a message via Twitter to fans addressing the lack of a multiplayer mode in The Last of Us Part II.
Read the full message below:
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 I 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 community and are excited to share more when it’s ready. big a fan of Factions as the rest of our community and are excited to share more when it’s ready.
-Naughty Dog
The Last of Us Part II will launch on the PlayStation 4 on February 21, 2020.
An update regarding multiplayer: pic.twitter.com/CUd98LgJGC
A life-long and avid gamer, William D'Angelo was first introduced to VGChartz in 2007. After years of supporting the site, he was brought on in 2010 as a junior analyst, working his way up to lead analyst in 2012. He has expanded his involvement in the gaming community by producing content on his own YouTube channel and Twitch channel dedicated to gaming Let's Plays and tutorials. You can contact the author at wdangelo@vgchartz.com or on Twitter @TrunksWD.
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Good. Give me the best SP mode you can make, and GotG will be pretty much guaranteed :-)
You better F'n believe it!
I understand that some people will miss MP. But, I think we can all agree that TLoU is a SP, story driven game first. So, I think it is better for the devs to use all available resources to make that mode the best it can possibly be.
Sony hasn't had great success with MP modes in my opinion so they've pulled back.
It could be argued if they really wanted a MP mode, a 3rd party could have developed it. The reality is there isn't a big audience for a game like this to have MP.
Uncharted and TLoU MP are actually very popular. I think at one point. Sony released numbers showing that over 16 million people had played TLoU’s multiplayer
That's about the same number of units it sold, mass bundling included. I feel if it was really popular it could have been developed by another studio.
It also sounds like they want to create something more ambitious than another PvP mode. Which I actually think is a good idea.
So.. in your mind putting a whole team on the development on a standalone TLOU multiplayer game means that they're scaling back on TLOU multiplayer. I dunno, man.
Generally speaking Sony has pulled back on MP. They have made a shooter since Killzone SF, unless you count Uncharted. Many of their recent games don't have a MP mode. They sold their online focused studio. Their biggest game with an online component right now is probably Gran Turismo.
With all that said, am I surprised The Last of Us Part II is lacking any MP mode? Nope. However, it will be interesting to see if they really create an online focused TLoU game. However, my original point of Sony pulling back on MP is true.
MP mode in PS5 rerelease confirmed?
it turns out, it's gonna have a multiplayer after all, but it's gonna be separate from the game
Well that's somewhat encouraging. Maybe we will get a MP mode after all, just as a standalone product.
Free or charged i think will be a bigger question come soon.
Why shouldn't they charge? They've been hiring more people and still are to make that multiplayer. We're in an era (due to in large part MS) where "AAA" multiplayer only games with almost no content (Sea of Thieves) are sold for $60 with more monetization to boot, and you're getting ready to bitch about a a developer charging for what'll likely be a top of the line product made with cutting edge tech that actually cost a good amount of money to make (unlike Sea of Thieves)?
Sea of Thieves offers all its content free and the game is also free on GamePass. I fail to understand your comparison. If Sea of Thieves decided to release a SP mode and charge there customers for the extra content than gamers will be upset over it. No one wants to buy a game a second time for a basic feature that is in most games.
What are we basing the value on though? I think the fairest way to price games would be by how much they cost to make. In that regard if TLOU2 single player likely being one of the costliest productions in gaming is not worth $60 then not much is. Just because every dev throws in a tacked on multiplayer or campaign just so they can have both doesn't mean everyone needs to do it. Gamers have been telling devs to stop doing it for a long time, now they're listening, the last Tomb raider also ditched it IIRC. As have Assassin's Creed games.
Also as for no one wants to buy a MP/SP mode for a game, Minecraft Story Mode and Minecraft Dungeons say hello.
Sarkar games do get more expensive to make on a yearly basis but does that mean game prices should start rising every year for the customers? Of course not. We don't need devs cutting out MP modes and tacking them on later and sold separately.
I don't think you know the different between a in game mode and a spinoff. Minecraft Story Mode and Dungeons are completely different games to Minecraft, not features inside the main Minecraft game. If Minecraft released next gen on the PS5 and XB2 and they told everyone that the online MP mode will be sold separately would cause big issues.
And The Last of Us: Factions is not a feature inside of The Last of Us Part II. It'll be a standalone title likely on the PS5. Also you don't seem to be comprehending what I'm saying. The point is value is subjective. Sea of Thieves, Gears 5, Pokemon, The Last of Us Part II all retail for $60. Each of those games has a vastly different amount of cost and work put into it. Ideally they should be priced according to their cost but they aren't they're priced at what people are paying for them.
We've seen franchises drop a mode and people being fine with it. CoD dropped the campaign and sold as well as it always does. Assassin's Creed has returned in a big way by removing the multiplayer stuff and going all in on a RPG like adventure. Tomb Raider...flopped but sure as hell wasn't because they removed the MP, no one even mentioned it's absence. TLOU2 being the biggest game ND has ever made will surely succeed in giving people their $60's worth. You're not going to decide the game's worth by yourself we all are by choosing to buy it or not. I'm betting on this game breaking Spiderman's record.
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