Another interesting piece of background on Bungie’s situation and its recent actions came from well-known journalist Jason Schreier of Bloomberg, who reported that the cancellation of The Last of Us Multiplayer was decided by Naughty Dog following sound advice from Bungie.
This would not have been a total rejection of the project by Bungie, in its new role as controller of live service titles within PlayStation Studios, but rather a more in-depth evaluation of the situation, at least according to what Schreier reported.
In a new post on X, the journalist, who appears to be gathering information for an upcoming in-depth article on Bungie, explained that “Bungie gave Naughty Dog feedback that the team found extremely helpful and that led to what appears to be a wise decision not to fully commit to a live service game.”
A deeper assessment
In fact, this is more or less what Neil Druckmann also reported at the time of the announcement of the cancellation of Factions, or whatever the name of the project The Last of Us Multiplayer that Naughty Dog had been working on for a few years could have been.
In essence, rather than a clear rejection of the game in development, it seems that Bungie’s feedback was more complex and aimed at making Naughty Dog think about the resources and commitment required to maintain a functioning live service game, leading the team to take the drastic decision to close the project so as not to have to commit exclusively to a risky title, compared to the studio’s previous experience.
According to Schreier, this was sound advice that led to an understandable decision: “People who are complaining about this cancellation should really look at the history of primarily single-player studios that have recently committed to live service games like Anthem, Suicide Squad, Marvel’s Avengers, Redfall, and others,” Schreier wrote.
From the same journalist we also received clarifications on the alleged cancellation of Destiny 3, which would be inaccurate, considering that Payback, canceled for some time, cannot be considered a real third chapter.
