Naughty Dog saying: “In short, we’re working on it” is proof of life for The Last of Us Part II multiplayer, at least.
Yesterday was The Last of Us Day. (It’s a thing, honest.)
It’s the day when – within the fiction of The Last of Us – the outbreak of the Cordyceps brain infection happens. This then all leads directly into the prologue events of the first game, with everything else following decades later. (Not sure what those events are? Need a recap of the whole story? We’ve got you covered, friend.)
Seems an odd thing to celebrate, the end of life as we know it. But then, people get excited when the date something happens in fiction happens in real life. (Just ask the various Twitter accounts dedicated to celebrating these fictional anniversaries.)
To celebrate The Last of Us Day – or to pre-empt fans asking: “Yeah, that’s lovely and great Naughty Dog, but what are you doing with The Last of Us right now?” – Naughty Dog senior communications manager Rochelle Snyder wrote a blog post on exactly that. Naturally, the question of The Last of Us Part II multiplayer was on the agenda.
“In short, we’re working on it,” Snyder begins, referencing a tweet from exactly two years ago, in which Naughty Dog announced that multiplayer would not be shipping with The Last of Us Part II.
“We see the community comments as many of you clamour for multiplayer and want updates. For now, we’ll say that we love what the team is developing and want to give them time to build out their ambitious project, we’ll reveal more when it’s ready! To that end, we’ve been busy growing our team inside the kennel since The Last of Us Part II launched and are currently in full swing of hiring for MP-related positions (hint hint), so if you or somebody you know qualifies for anything you see on our jobs page, apply!”
(There was a link to the job listing in the original blog post, which you can find for yourselves if you’re interested, but we’re not going to recommend that, given the horrific crunch reportedly endured by Naughty Dog’s staff on The Last of Us Part II. And don’t think we’re picking on Naughty Dog. We also wouldn’t recommend working at Rockstar, or CD Projekt Red, or Ubisoft, or Activision Blizzard or…)
As for what format the eventual The Last of Us Part II multiplayer expandalone might take? Nobody’s entirely sure, but there’s a non-zero chance it’s going to a battle royale, which might not be as bad an idea as it sounds.
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