Gabriel Stanford-ReisingerRumors are spinning that Naughty Dog has scaled back The Last of Us Factions as Bungie raises questions about the studio’s ability to keep players engaged. It hasn’t been canceled, however.
On the heels of it not appearing as part of the PlayStation showcase earlier this month, Bloomberg’s Jason Schreier reached out to four people familiar with the project. According to these four people, a recent evaluation led to its team being reduced after Bungie looked at the planned multiplayer game.
It raised questions on how it plans to keep the player engaged for long periods of time, something that is vital for a multiplayer live-service game like The Last of Us Factions to do.
Apparently, Bloomberg was in the process of getting this piece published, reaching out to Sony and Naughty Dog for comments when the studio publicly revealed that the game needs more time. Factions has quite a bit to live up to, considering just how much has been said about it, including that it’s the studio’s most ambitious project to date.