It’s easy to imagine the profound disappointment felt by developers who pour their heart and soul into a project, making personal sacrifices, only to then hear from an executive that their work has been canceled. This is precisely what happened at Naughty Dog with the much-anticipated The Last of Us: Online, and new details shed light on the unfortunate fate of this title.
In an interview with the Lance E. Lee Podcast in Tokyo, one of its directors, Vinit Agarwal, revealed that the game was actually “around 80% complete” when the decision to cancel it was made. He admitted that the news hit him hard:
“It was a devastating moment for me because I spent seven years working on that game, and it broke my soul. I honestly remember finding out it was canceled 24 hours before it was announced publicly. That’s how I learned the game was canceled, and it was just unfortunate, and they had to do that because they have to control messaging.”
The explanation he provided for this decision was that the studio opted for a safer bet rather than pursuing a more experimental concept:
“Basically, at some point, a decision had to be made. ‘Okay, make this game or make the next game that Neil Druckmann, the company president, was directing…’ They had to choose the game that was kind of the studio’s bread and butter rather than this experimental game I was working on, which I believe was going to be really important, but unfortunately couldn’t see the light of day.”
Nearly a year ago, Vinit Agarwal departed Naughty Dog to establish his own studio in Japan. What he’s cooking up next remains to be seen, but there are numerous examples of prominent developers who have left industry giants to found their own successful studios, giving rise to acclaimed titles such as Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night, Death Stranding, Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes, Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, and The Finals.
We sincerely hope Agarwal’s new project proves equally successful, and we’ll be sure to keep you updated as soon as more information becomes available.