The Last of Us multiplayer was 80% complete—what happened?

The Last of Us online spinoff: cancellation after ~80% completion

A former developer for The Last of Us multiplayer project has claimed the cancelled online game was roughly 80% complete before it was scrapped. The project reportedly spent about seven years in development.

The account also describes how the cancellation unfolded internally. The director said they learned of the cancellation only about 24 hours before the news became public, describing the moment as “soul-crushing.” The larger context is that Naughty Dog had competing priorities, including Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet, which the development time is framed around.

Why this matters

When a project reaches the “80% complete” stage, cancellations often land with disproportionate impact—especially when the game has been in development for years and has likely already built much of its underlying systems. For players, it reinforces that the long-promised multiplayer effort wasn’t just a distant concept, but a near-finished product that was ultimately not released.

For the industry, it’s another high-profile example of how rapidly production priorities can shift at major studios, even after long development cycles.

The provided material doesn’t list the specific gameplay mode(s), the exact internal scope at the “80%” point, or what parts—if any—were reused in other projects. It also doesn’t provide official confirmation details about how close the project actually was from Sony or Naughty Dog.

Still, the core facts are clear: a near-finished multiplayer game was cancelled, and the director learned about it shortly before the public announcement—turning a long-running development effort into an abrupt end.