The game’s director sat down for an interview in which he talked about his career and the ‘soul-crushing’ cancellation
Former PlayStation executive Shuehi Yoshida, who recently departed Sony after more than 30 years with the electronics giant, revealed that he went hands-on with Naughty Dog’s cancelled The Last of Us Online game, and came away quite impressed.
“But Bungie explained [to them] what it takes to make live service games, and Naughty Dog realised, ‘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.”
Well that was an expensive oopsie!
Why does everything multiplayer have to have some elaborate service plan? Factions 1 didn’t. It was just a good multiplayer with some add-ons down the road. Simple yet effective.
I just can't believe with how experienced NaughtyDog are and how long they've been in the company they'd have gotten so far with Factions II only to then realise at the very end they wouldn't have the manpower to manage a live service title and create a new single player game.
Factions II originally sounded like it was something that was going to come out shortly after TLOU2 similar to how Sucker Punch handled Ghost of Tsushima Legends. I remember when people were expecting Factions II in January - March 2021, like 6 months or so after the games original release.
This has always been a sticking point for me as well. Live service games aren't a new concept, and I don't believe that the studio had no idea of the level of commitment that type of game requires. And also, do we really need to hear that it was impressive, Shu? We're never going to play it! :P
I think there has to be a lot between the lines here. It surely can't really be "oh shucks, it's this and no more single player? K-thx-bye, 4-wasted-years"...
I don't think that Factions had the same player base that a sequel would bring. It was certainly manageable back when the first one was out.
Then Helldivers 2 just demonstrated a disastrous launch because they weren't prepared for the sheer amount of players.
Maintaining the new game and the infrastructure would pull resources from other games and I don't think that's what they wanted here.
@thorstein
"Maintaining the new game and the infrastructure would pull resources from other games and I don't think that's what they wanted here"
Well yeah and that's kind of my point
NaughtyDog have been around in the games industry for a long time now, they aren't stupid, they knew what kind of man power a GaaS title they had created would take and what they'd have to give up. To get to the very end and go "Damn. I didn't know this would take up all our time" after 3 years or something is kind of insane.
It was more than “just a good multiplayer” it was one of the best multiplayer experiences Sony has ever had.
Bottom-line was that they wanted to charge extra for it and make it standalone. They said that from the beginning and that was why they stripped it out of the remaster. Pure greed backfired on them and left them in a situation either having to sell a game that is drastically different to what people actually wanted or just have to explain why they were so greedily trying to charge for a multiplayer game that was a free portion of a full game previously.
In a sad way, as much as I loved it, I’m now glad it backfired on them. Glad it hit them in their pockets. Karma at its finest.
Because times change. I have seen people claim they want multi player like how it used to be, but are quick to drop a new game when they don't add enough new content every 2-3 months. Companies do it because it's what sells. Try releasing an online only game without any road map or enough content coming up every 2-3 months and watch your player drop.
Times change? They cancelled it. That’s what changed. I would’ve played it.
“Companies do it because it's what sells”
Then they shouldn’t have cancelled it.
You are actually correct but they're not going to listen to you. I've given up trying on this site. They don't understand that most online games are now service games. I've said the same thing you're telling them now. Make it like the old days and these guys will complain that there's no new content or road map for the old style online multiplayer. Even Sony's flagship game Gran Turismo is an online service game. They sell items, they add new cars and tracks and it's online connected. Doesn't matter what you say to them. Or the fact that they actually like service games but don't want to admit it. But bought millions of Hell Divers 2, Destiny, etc as well.
Gamers asked for online games and then bashed Sony for trying to give them what they asked for beyond single player games. It just wasn't sequels to favorite games like Killzone or Resistance because those games sold poorly on every sequel release. These guys didn't buy them enough to warrant bringing them back.
Even as a single player, Sony fan, I can see the truth. But they'd rather lie to themselves and complain. Or take no responsibility for the failed games they jumped on before release or the fact that Sony decided to cancel other online games like TLofU.
I’m sure it was. They should have got another studio to maintain it after release and have ND consult the ongoing direction. Oh well , spilled milk at this point
If only they did the same thing as the original
an additional bit of fun that turned out really great
but no, live service shit ruins even more
For what it is worth, Concord and PlayStation are not the only victims of this growing disconnect between consumers, developers, and executives. It doesn't take an expert to see Concord, hear its pitch, and send the team back to the drawing board . And there are many other examples of this. With Concord though and The Last of Us Online, it's increasingly obvious that things are a little all over the place at PlayStation as they try and realize this live service initiative they've undertaken.
They probably did not want to risk damaging the reputation of The Last Of Us in the eyes of the consumer.
I think they were trying to milk TLOU by making a standalone gaas game but they could sense it will not only flop but it would hurt the series..
Concord is a new IP. Impact isn’t the same
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There were thousands of people that regularly played TLOU online from t PS3 and the Remaster on PS4. That was the main game I played online I. The first 2 or 3 years of the ps4s life cycle, until Destiny came out.
TLOU Remaster on PS4 and the online component is some of the most fun I've had playing a pvp style game. It's realistic, paced properly, basically has extraction elements with lootingsupplies to craft during the match, and the progression system was top notch. I was honestly more excited for a new online component more than TLOU2
It’s called bad management and not forecasting what the consumers want! Concord was 6 years to late it would have been a big hit in 2019 with all the F2P games now it stood no chance.
TLOU online would have done amazing the brand was well known but they canned that due to bungie haha like you can’t make this up ND was scared it would of taken time out of there schedule you make a separate team that was all BS you don’t throw 4 years of hard work down the drain.
Then they told bend studios days gone 2 is not happening make a live service game instead if that’s anything like concord then shits going to hit the fan.
The second game definitely did damage the reputation of the first game though.
Not sure that's an issue since it already happened with TLOU2 being so divisive.
But Tlou1 already had multiplayer and people loved it. They could've remastered that and released it.
Concord might have stood a better chance if it was pve like destiny. but pvp only.. no ty
I actually might have even given it a shot (on sale) if it did have PvE. Eh; missed opportunity.
Concord likely had many more years behind it as well as it was the entirety of work from that one studio versus the multiple items at ND. I mean, ND worked on remasters and whatnot, not just MP game. Likely working on the next two unannounced games as well. They had stuff to work on that it didn't take their whole studio to work on the MP.
Concord was in development for 8 years (as they revealed earlier last week)
The studio was bought in 2023 by Sony
Meaning the game was already on the last stretch before release this year and it might be the reason why Sony decided to buy the studio during their live service push since the game was almost done.
Factions II was wasting NaughtyDogs resources and because they went far too ambitious with it (which is annoying as they didn't have to) they realised it would have taken a lot of manpower to keep things running as a live service title with constant updates, patches, community interaction and so on.
So they focused on Concord instead so NaughtyDog could get back to what they do best since they've now wasted like 4 years since TLOU2 and there's now going to be a gap before their next game comes out.
It makes sense, it's shitty but it tracks. Why have the better studio working away on a title that's not their main bread and butter.
Factions II should have been a non live service smaller title, a simple upgrade to the first online with some new improvements...that's it, they didn't need to go big with it. We've seen with Uncharted 2 where a more barebones "less is more" multiplayer works. The less stuff you've got going on the less stuff you've got to balance.
Concord was that studios main project, factions was not NDs main project. Very simple
They haven't announced any title, just that they in fact "have more than one ambitious, brand new single player game that we're working on here at Naughty Dog" as per their official statement of cancelation of Factions.
@isarai
Ambitious? Lol I wonder if we'll have get a studio to say that this is the least ambitious game and smallest game they've ever made ...what useless words
The Last of Us 2 Online mode often referred to as Factions 2 was said to be in development for four years, with a team "in the hundreds."
The original was so good. What was the issue here? All they had to do was basically recreate what they already did.
All ND multiplayer were top notch!! Uncharted were so fun and engaging. Online coop was a total blast 💥
Maybe they were trying to release Factions 2 as a gaas using the name of the series as a selling point and didn’t work out?
I think they simply were not happy with the end product and decided not to dilute a masterpiece of an IP with something lackluster.
“The original was so good. What was the issue here?”
This issue is that Instead of making improvements upon Factions they chose to go big and chase GaaS.
@StormSnooper The game is dead. To be successful a Gaas needs regular content. And you need a lot of people for that. Palworld is another exemple not enough content the game is dead too.
No, gaas is not the problem. There are good gaas games. Helldivers is an example.
Well with how much care part 2 had put into it, I think they just decided to put factions to the side to get that over the finish line. Then shortly after they wanted to expand the multiplayer which delayed it even more. And then they wanted to convert it into a games as a service title which I think changing gears that many times just shattered what was there and just wasn't coming back together well enough to ship
Even if they wanted a full version, I wish they could have put a smaller version in the game, even as a teaser
at least then we could have the same as the first game
@shaenoide
dead? Palworld literally has 20k people playing at this moment on steam alone
that's huge, in what world is that "dead"
The issue here is that Sony listened to Bungie, who said factions 2 would fail, when in reality it was probably exactly what we all wanted. It was most likely very good. We all know what’s happened to Bungie since. They probably also advised Sony to double down on Concord
This, the only heads that should roll are the ones who greenlit Concord while letting Factions get cancelled.
They didn't need to go LIVE SERVICE route. Just release it as a standard multi-player game without the GAAS trash.
An unbelievable waste of time and money all for nothing.
Really an incredible bag fumble by Sony here. A sequel to a beloved multiplayer mode of a beloved franchise. This should've been a lay up that printed money for them. Only potential silver lining is that ND isn't stuck in GaaS development purgatory for the next 10 years supporting it.
That last 20% can be a year or two more of development.
The only online game I have ever been hyped for… sigh :/
Shame because it could have actually been a live service game that I would be interested in and I imagine a lot of other people too, the last of us multiplayer was severely underrated
Dumbest thing they could have done was ask Bungie. It's not the same Bungie team that created Halo. Destiny is mediocre at best. This could have been amazing.
Thanks for reminding me of one of my greatest disappointments. I hope something gets leaked someday, I'd love to see gameplay.