The Last of Us 2 multiplayer mod shut down by Sony

After about eight months of development, The Last of Us Part II multiplayer has been cancelled. This wasn’t an official multiplayer mode developed by Naughty Dog, but a mod being worked on by modders, with a release date for this month. The creator of the mod shared the unfortunate news on X, with some commenters blaming the modder.

Speclizer and his team have been working on bringing multiplayer to The Last of Us Part II since Sony decided it’s not worth the investment. The original game, The Last of Us, got a multiplayer mode after release called Factions, and some game modes are still playable on the PS4 and PS5. However, in 2023, the studio cancelled development on The Last of Us Online (supposedly Factions 2), confirming that there will not be an official dedicated multiplayer mode for The Last of Us Part II.

The community still wanted an online mode, so the modding community took it into their own hands. Specifically, Speclizer and the team were hard at work, with a release date scheduled for this month. They had been sharing regular updates with the community across social platforms. The latest update from the team, however, was a disappointing one, as the project was cancelled because of Sony “requesting for the mod not to be released.”

Several commenters feel that the cancellation was bound to happen since Speclizer was so public about developing the mod. They also state that the modder and his team were trying to make money off of Sony’s IP. Some others are siding with Speclizer and flaming Sony for its anti-consumer ways, considering the end of physical discs, policies around inactive player accounts, problems with live service, and more.