Highlights

  • The cancelation of The Last of Us' standalone multiplayer game could have implications for Sony and PlayStation's future plans, including the development of multiplayer games for other franchises like Horizon.
  • The success of Returnal has shown that Sony is looking to replicate successful trends in other first-party games, but the cancelation of The Last of Us Online raises doubts about the future of Horizon's multiplayer game.
  • If Guerrilla is unable to balance both single-player and multiplayer games, it may affect the development and success of Horizon's multiplayer project, too. However, Guerrilla has individual teams for different efforts and may be able to side-step those same complications.

It may not be the most surprising announcement due to the game recently being put on ice and all, but the fact that The Last of Us’ standalone multiplayer game was canceled could have some intriguing implications for Sony and PlayStation’s near-future plans. This is obviously true for Naughty Dog’s sake since canceling its Last of Us Online game redirects the studio in time to course correct and not dump a bunch of resources into live-service efforts for it to not be worthwhile or satisfactory. However, at least one other PlayStation first-party franchise is reportedly getting a multiplayer game, too.

PlayStation has shown its cards lately and demonstrated that if one fad does well for it, there’s a high likelihood that it’ll attempt to replicate that success in other franchises. It’s fun to see that cohesion between first-party games, especially when it comes to Easter eggs referencing other first-party studios, but since Returnal’s success it also seems as if Sony wished to replicate that in God of War and The Last of Us on a much smaller scale. Now, while Sony was hot on the idea of multiplayer live-service games, The Last of Us’ recent cancelation makes the future of Horizon’s own multiplayer game dubious at best.

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The Last of Us’ Multiplayer Cancelation Might Not Bode Well for the Horizon Franchise

If Naughty Dog Can’t Achieve Live-Service, Then Guerrilla Might Not, Either

This could also prove to be an issue for Guerrilla because, as Naughty Dog put it, the studio would seemingly need to shift from single-player games to live-service efforts without enough leniency to truly work on both. If true, Horizon’s multiplayer game might need to consider the same ultimatum.

Naughty Dog claims to have shelved Uncharted, at least for the time being, and while it has other single-player games in development it hasn’t yet confirmed a new franchise or license adaptation in the works. Regardless, if one live-service game would’ve upended all of Naughty Dog’s plans, then there’s surely no way that Guerrilla could still put attention to its single-player Horizon ambitions and dedicate as much time toward a multiplayer game’s plethora of post-launch content, balances, updates, and other such necessities. If this same fate is to be avoided, Guerrilla’s Horizon Online project may have already had its fate firmly sealed.

The only way that Horizon ’s multiplayer game might be salvageable whereas The Last of Us ’ wasn’t is due to Horizon ’s game being developed by a new internal team, suggesting that it wouldn’t need to pool as many resources from the development of other endeavors. Only time will tell how this shapes out, but Guerrilla having particular teams for its live-service, single-player, and external developments is a more promising look.

The Last of Us and Horizon Sticking to Single-Player May Be for the Best

Of course, it would be incredible to see multiplayer-exclusive standalones from all these franchises, but if it’s unfeasible to balance both live-service games and single-player games then it’s almost assuredly going to be favorable for these studios to keep their status quo and continue making single-player games. Guerrilla is no different, where Horizon is really only beginning to hit its true stride with Forbidden West and its Burning Shores DLC, and suddenly and jarringly swapping to an emphasis on live service could tarnish what that franchise has accomplished in its single-player merits.