The director of the canceled Last of Us Online has revealed he was only informed about the game’s cancellation a day before it was made public, despite spending seven years working on it.
Last of Us Online was nearly finished
Speaking on the Lance E. Lee Podcast from Tokyo, director Vinit Agarwal explained that the project, also known as Factions, was nearly complete when the plug was pulled. According to Agarwal, the game had reached roughly 80% completion and was performing well internally, making the decision all the more difficult.
He traced the game’s origins back to the COVID gaming boom, when Sony like many others, poured significant investment into online titles. That funding is what got Last of Us Online off the ground in the first place.
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As pandemic-era spending declined and players returned to normal routines, online gaming revenue dropped sharply. Studios began scaling back, and Naughty Dog eventually faced a tough choice: continue with Last of Us Online, or commit fully to Neil Druckmann’s next single-player project.
They chose the latter, what Agarwal described as “the bread and butter of the studio,” over the experimental multiplayer title he’d dedicated nearly a decade to.
A Brutal way to find out
Perhaps the most striking detail is how Agarwal learned about the cancellation. Despite his role as director, he was only told 24 hours before the public announcement, something he called a “devastating” and “soul-crushing” experience.
Former PlayStation exec Shuhei Yoshida had previously said the game was great when he played it, which makes the whole situation sting even more for fans who were quietly hoping Factions would arrive someday.
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