Naughty Dog is one of the finest studios in the industry, with games like The Last of Us and Uncharted under its belts. While the studio has had its fair share of multiplayer offerings in the past, Bungie warned it not to delve too much into the live service genre.

Why it matters: Naughty Dog was previously developing The Last of Us Multiplayer, which was later shelved. It seems it dodged a bullet with the move, considering the market is becoming saturated and less profitable. Bungie was the reason behind the cancellation of The Last of Us Multiplayer.

According to Jason Schreier, Bungie gave Naughty Dog some feedback that turned out to be great, such as not going all in at a live service game. It seems that that feedback resulted in the cancellation of The Last of Us Multiplayer.

While most fans were sad that the game was cancelled, it seems to have been for the best. Naughty Dog does have multiplayer experience, but the market today is quite different, and single-player studios haven’t had the best live service games in recent years.

Some recent examples include Suicide Squad by Rocksteady, Marvel’s Avengers by Crystal Dynamics, and Redfall by Arkane Austin. However, making multiplayer a part of future games rather than an entirely separate release might not hurt. Naughty Dog hoped to break into live-service gaming.
While multiplayer modes were never the standout parts of past Uncharted games, they were still enjoyable. The original Factions also had a small but dedicated community.

The major problem seems to be that Naughty Dog would have had to dedicate too many resources to the live service project, so Bungie advised against this push. Bungie itself has been struggling recently.