{"id":3641,"date":"2026-04-02T09:02:00","date_gmt":"2026-04-02T16:02:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.wiki-living.com\/index.php\/2026\/04\/02\/the-director-of-last-of-us-online-revealed-that-naughty-dog-had-to-choose-between-canceling-the-80-finished-game-and-intergalactic-the-heretic-prophet-it-was-soul-crushing-finding-out-i\/"},"modified":"2026-04-03T07:08:18","modified_gmt":"2026-04-03T14:08:18","slug":"the-director-of-last-of-us-online-revealed-that-naughty-dog-had-to-choose-between-canceling-the-80-finished-game-and-intergalactic-the-heretic-prophet-it-was-soul-crushing-finding-out-i","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.wiki-living.com\/index.php\/2026\/04\/02\/the-director-of-last-of-us-online-revealed-that-naughty-dog-had-to-choose-between-canceling-the-80-finished-game-and-intergalactic-the-heretic-prophet-it-was-soul-crushing-finding-out-i\/","title":{"rendered":"The director of Last of Us Online revealed that Naughty Dog had to choose between canceling the &#8216;80%&#8217; finished game and Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet \u2014 &#8216;It was soul-crushing. Finding out it was being canceled 24 hours before it was publicly announced"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div id=\"article-body\">\n<hr id=\"elk-38db1cb9-45d1-4218-ae82-8eccc6ecf642\"\/>\n<ul id=\"elk-00b93a9e-7d8f-41de-a349-4396374a761c\">\n<li><em><strong>The Last of Us<\/strong><\/em><strong> <\/strong><em><strong>On the Internet<\/strong><\/em><strong>    game director Vinit Agarwal says the game was 80% complete before it was cancelled<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>He says Naughty Dog has to choose between canceling the multiplayer game as well <\/strong><em><strong>Intergalactic: The Rogue Prophet<\/strong><\/em><\/li>\n<li><strong>Agarwal read the &#8220;soul-crushing&#8221; news 24 hours before the public did<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<hr id=\"elk-53ae5704-bc05-466c-b137-642701fd8c8d\"\/>\n<p id=\"elk-3c7b5fe2-a6c7-4dd2-b374-4923964f7bb3\">Director of Naughty Dog&#8217;s <em>The Last of Us<\/em><em>    On the Internet<\/em> revealed that the multiplayer shooter was almost finished before it was cancelled.<\/p>\n<p>In December 2023, news broke that development of the multiplayer game had been halted, with Naughty Dog explaining at the time that they did not want to &#8220;become a studio for live service games only&#8221;.<\/p>\n<aside data-block-type=\"embed\" data-render-type=\"fte\" data-skip=\"dealsy\" data-widget-type=\"seasonal\" class=\"hawk-root\"\/>\n<p id=\"elk-3c7b5fe2-a6c7-4dd2-b374-4923964f7bb3-2\">The game has reportedly been in development for four years with a team of hundreds, but the studio realized that keeping the live service title alive would take all of its resources away from other single-player projects, including <em>Intergalactic: The Rogue Prophet<\/em>.<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"article-continues-below block py-2 text-sm\">The article continues below <svg xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"inline-block w-2.5 h-2.5 ml-2\" fill=\"currentColor\" preserveaspectratio=\"xMidYMid meet\" viewbox=\"0 0 1000 1000\"><path d=\"M1000 100L500 900 0 100h1000z\"\/><\/svg><\/span><\/p>\n<aside data-component-name=\"Recirculation:ArticleRiver\" data-recirculation-type=\"inline\" data-mrf-recirculation=\"Trending Bar\" data-nosnippet=\"\" class=\"clear-both pb-0 pt-2 mb-4\">\n        <span class=\"&#10;            flex&#10;            after:content-[''] after:flex-1 after:ml-4 after:my-[0.7rem] after:border-t after:border-solid after:border-t-[#ccc]&#10;            before:content-[''] before:flex-1 before:mr-4 before:my-[0.7rem] before:border-t before:border-solid before:border-t-[#ccc]&#10;            font-article-heading pb-0 !text-base uppercase sm:text-sm font-bold&#10;        \"><\/p>\n<p>            You might like it<br \/>\n        <\/span><\/p>\n<\/aside>\n<p>Now, speaking at length in a recent interview with Tokyo&#8217;s Lance E. Lee Podcast, game director Vinit Agarwal discussed the development process and the circumstances leading to the project&#8217;s cancellation.<\/p>\n<p>Agarwal explained that the game received funding due to the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to a global shutdown and increased public interest in online games.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;What happened is, during the time of COVID, the gaming industry saw a lot of growth because everyone was at home,&#8221; Agarwal said. &#8220;Therefore, in 2020 money flooded the gaming industry because people were suddenly playing more games because they were at home, what else should they have done?<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Not only that, online games saw a huge boom because people wanted to play with their friends. They couldn&#8217;t see their friends, so they had to play online with their friends. So online games became very profitable. So Sony decided to invest as much money in online games as everyone else. And that was part of why it was. <em>Last of Us Multiplayer<\/em> we got funding, then we got off the ground and made a lot of progress, and the game was doing really well internally.&#8221;<\/p>\n<div id=\"slice-container-newsletterForm-articleInbodyContent-bq7yWSDMFQVFViP2cibtwT\" class=\"slice-container newsletter-inbodyContent-slice newsletterForm-articleInbodyContent-bq7yWSDMFQVFViP2cibtwT slice-container-newsletterForm\">\n<div data-hydrate=\"true\" class=\"newsletter-form__wrapper newsletter-form__wrapper--inbodyContent\">\n<div class=\"newsletter-form__container\">\n<section class=\"newsletter-form__top-bar\"\/>\n<section class=\"newsletter-form__main-section\">\n<p class=\"newsletter-form__strapline\">Sign up for top news, reviews, opinions, top tech deals, and more.<\/p>\n<\/section>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>Agarwal then dropped a bombshell, revealing that the game was actually 80% complete before Naughty Dog pulled the plug.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;We developed it until it was 80% completed. It was very close to being done,&#8221; he explained, explaining that the same forces that drove the industry in 2020 are the reasons it started to decline in the following years.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;So as people went back to the office, suddenly people didn&#8217;t have much time to play games. You know, that spending money was reduced,&#8221; said Agarwal. &#8220;The economy also went down. So all that money that was in the animal industry could not be sustained. Because the money was being withdrawn, they had to reverse the money they had spent. They were overspending. They were overzealous.&#8221;<\/p>\n<aside data-component-name=\"Recirculation:ArticleRiver\" data-recirculation-type=\"inline\" data-mrf-recirculation=\"Trending Bar\" data-nosnippet=\"\" class=\"clear-both pb-0 pt-2 mb-4\">\n        <span class=\"&#10;            flex&#10;            after:content-[''] after:flex-1 after:ml-4 after:my-[0.7rem] after:border-t after:border-solid after:border-t-[#ccc]&#10;            before:content-[''] before:flex-1 before:mr-4 before:my-[0.7rem] before:border-t before:border-solid before:border-t-[#ccc]&#10;            font-article-heading pb-0 !text-base uppercase sm:text-sm font-bold&#10;        \"><\/p>\n<p>            What you can read next<br \/>\n        <\/span><\/p>\n<\/aside>\n<div class=\"youtube-video youtube-facade\" data-nosnippet=\"\" id=\"elk-Ezqv1IyLNlQ\">\n<div class=\"video-aspect-box\">\n<div class=\"watch-on-iframe-Ezqv1IyLNlQ\" data-yt-video-token=\"Ezqv1IyLNlQ\" title=\"FROM NAUGHTY DOG TO TOKYO: BUILDING GAMES WITH SOUL - Vinit Agarwal - LELPodcast - Episode 456 - YouTube\">\n<span class=\"youtube-video-title\">FROM BAD DOGS TO TOKYO: BUILDING GAMES WITH SOUL &#8211; Vinit Agarwal &#8211; LELPodcast &#8211; Episode 456 &#8211; YouTube<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><svg xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" class=\"play-button\" viewbox=\"0 0 234.67 165.33\"><path fill=\"red\" d=\"M229.763 25.817c-2.699-10.162-10.65-18.165-20.748-20.881C190.716 0 117.333 0 117.333 0S43.951 0 25.651 4.936C15.553 7.652 7.6 15.655 4.903 25.817 0 44.236 0 82.667 0 82.667s0 38.429 4.903 56.85C7.6 149.68 15.553 157.681 25.65 160.4c18.3 4.934 91.682 4.934 91.682 4.934s73.383 0 91.682-4.934c10.098-2.718 18.049-10.72 20.748-20.882 4.904-18.421 4.904-56.85 4.904-56.85s0-38.431-4.904-56.85\"\/><path fill=\"#fff\" d=\"m93.333 117.559 61.333-34.89-61.333-34.894z\"\/><\/svg><\/p>\n<p>Watch it open <svg xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" class=\"youtube-logo\" viewbox=\"0 0 507.9 113.39\"><g fill=\"#fff\"><path d=\"M64.792 80.99V32.396l42.082 24.297zm93.803-63.285a20.285 20.285 0 0 0-14.32-14.32C131.642 0 80.99 0 80.99 0S30.337 0 17.705 3.385a20.286 20.286 0 0 0-14.32 14.32C0 30.338 0 56.693 0 56.693S0 83.049 3.385 95.68A20.285 20.285 0 0 0 17.705 110c12.632 3.386 63.285 3.386 63.285 3.386s50.652 0 63.285-3.386a20.284 20.284 0 0 0 14.32-14.32c3.385-12.632 3.385-38.988 3.385-38.988s0-26.355-3.385-38.988m94.473 74.326c.887-2.314 1.332-6.098 1.332-11.35V58.556c0-5.097-.445-8.822-1.332-11.178-.888-2.355-2.452-3.533-4.69-3.533-2.163 0-3.69 1.178-4.577 3.533-.888 2.356-1.332 6.081-1.332 11.178V80.68c0 5.25.424 9.035 1.275 11.35.848 2.318 2.392 3.475 4.633 3.475 2.239 0 3.803-1.157 4.691-3.475zm-17.953 11.122c-3.207-2.16-5.486-5.52-6.835-10.079-1.352-4.554-2.027-10.617-2.027-18.185v-10.31c0-7.644.771-13.784 2.316-18.417 1.544-4.633 3.956-8.011 7.24-10.135 3.282-2.123 7.587-3.186 12.916-3.186 5.251 0 9.459 1.082 12.626 3.243 3.165 2.162 5.482 5.542 6.95 10.136 1.466 4.595 2.2 10.715 2.2 18.36v10.31c0 7.567-.714 13.65-2.142 18.243-1.43 4.595-3.747 7.955-6.951 10.077-3.205 2.124-7.548 3.186-13.03 3.186-5.64 0-10.06-1.082-13.263-3.243m248.053-57.981c-.81 1.005-1.352 2.646-1.621 4.923-.272 2.278-.404 5.734-.404 10.367v5.097h11.697V60.46c0-4.555-.155-8.011-.463-10.367-.309-2.355-.868-4.014-1.678-4.98-.812-.966-2.067-1.449-3.766-1.449-1.7 0-2.954.503-3.765 1.506zm-2.025 29.886v3.591c0 4.557.132 7.974.404 10.251.269 2.279.828 3.94 1.68 4.982.849 1.041 2.16 1.564 3.938 1.564 2.392 0 4.035-.927 4.923-2.781.887-1.853 1.37-4.942 1.447-9.268l13.785.812c.077.62.116 1.469.116 2.548 0 6.565-1.795 11.47-5.387 14.712-3.589 3.242-8.669 4.865-15.232 4.865-7.876 0-13.398-2.47-16.564-7.414-3.168-4.94-4.75-12.586-4.75-22.935V63.589c0-10.657 1.641-18.436 4.924-23.342 3.281-4.903 8.9-7.355 16.854-7.355 5.482 0 9.691 1.004 12.626 3.012 2.933 2.01 5 5.137 6.197 9.383 1.197 4.247 1.796 10.117 1.796 17.607v12.163h-26.757m-284.953-1.33-18.187-65.68h15.869l6.37 29.77c1.623 7.339 2.82 13.594 3.591 18.766h.464c.54-3.706 1.738-9.922 3.591-18.65l6.603-29.886h15.869l-18.417 65.68v31.51h-15.754v-31.51M322.115 34.23v71.007h-12.511l-1.39-8.688h-.347c-3.399 6.564-8.496 9.845-15.291 9.845-4.71 0-8.185-1.543-10.425-4.633-2.24-3.087-3.359-7.915-3.359-14.48V34.23h15.985v52.126c0 3.168.348 5.426 1.043 6.776.695 1.353 1.853 2.027 3.475 2.027 1.39 0 2.722-.423 3.996-1.275 1.274-.849 2.22-1.928 2.838-3.241V34.229h15.986m81.995.001v71.007h-12.511l-1.391-8.688h-.345c-3.402 6.564-8.498 9.845-15.292 9.845-4.711 0-8.186-1.543-10.426-4.633-2.24-3.087-3.358-7.915-3.358-14.48V34.23h15.985v52.126c0 3.168.347 5.426 1.041 6.776.696 1.353 1.855 2.027 3.476 2.027 1.391 0 2.723-.423 3.996-1.275 1.275-.849 2.22-1.928 2.839-3.241V34.229h15.985\"\/><path d=\"M365.552 20.908h-15.87v84.329h-15.637v-84.33h-15.869V8.05h47.376v12.858m76.811 53.636c0 5.174-.215 9.229-.639 12.162-.424 2.937-1.139 5.021-2.143 6.255-1.004 1.236-2.357 1.854-4.053 1.854a7.404 7.404 0 0 1-3.65-.927c-1.12-.618-2.026-1.544-2.722-2.78V50.796c.54-1.93 1.467-3.513 2.78-4.749 1.313-1.234 2.74-1.853 4.285-1.853 1.623 0 2.876.637 3.766 1.91.886 1.275 1.505 3.418 1.853 6.43.348 3.011.523 7.297.523 12.857zm14.652-28.964c-.967-4.478-2.531-7.721-4.692-9.73-2.163-2.007-5.136-3.011-8.919-3.011-2.935 0-5.676.83-8.224 2.49a16.926 16.926 0 0 0-5.908 6.545h-.117l.001-37.416h-15.405v100.777h13.204l1.622-6.717h.347c1.235 2.393 3.088 4.285 5.56 5.675 2.47 1.39 5.213 2.085 8.225 2.085 5.404 0 9.382-2.491 11.931-7.471 2.548-4.982 3.823-12.76 3.823-23.341V64.23c0-7.953-.484-14.17-1.448-18.65\"\/><\/g><\/svg>\n<\/div>\n<p id=\"elk-ba68c7dd-38dc-4a83-ae63-2f3627aafc61\">This led to a huge problem with Naughty Dog, and the studio was forced to decide between canceling any <em>The Last of Us Online<\/em> or its next great single-player game, <em>Intergalactic: The Rogue Prophet<\/em>.<\/p>\n<p>Yes, now we know that <em>Intergalactic<\/em> it was saved, and the game went on to receive an official announcement in 2024.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;And one of the injured in the game I was directing,&#8221; said Agarwal. &#8220;Basically, at some point, a decision had to be made. &#8216;Okay, do this show or do the next show that Neil Druckmann was directing, the president of the company.&#8217; And so, naturally, you can understand what is happening there. They should have chosen a game like the soul, the studio&#8217;s bread and butter, rather than this experimental game I was working on that I believe was going to be really big, but unfortunately couldn&#8217;t see the light of day. &#8220;<\/p>\n<p>Agarwal then explained how difficult it was to learn of the game&#8217;s cancellation, revealing that he received 24 hours before it was officially announced to the public.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;That was a painful time for me, because I spent seven years working on that game. It hurt my soul,&#8221; he said.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I was the director of the game, and to find out that it was canceled 24 hours before it was announced to the public &#8211; that&#8217;s how I found out that the game was being cancelled, and it was just unfortunate. And they had to do that because they had to control the messages.&#8221;<\/p>\n<div id=\"slice-container-person-bq7yWSDMFQVFViP2cibtwT-nTsWHvDeLASEEfOWiys0EIooHalseZE8\" class=\"slice-container person-wrapper person-bq7yWSDMFQVFViP2cibtwT-nTsWHvDeLASEEfOWiys0EIooHalseZE8 slice-container-person\">\n<div class=\"person person--separator\">\n<div class=\"person__avatar-block\">\n<figure class=\"image-wrapped__wrapper\" data-bordeaux-image-check=\"false\">\n<div class=\"image-wrapped__widthsetter\" style=\"max-width:none\">\n<div class=\"image-wrapped__aspect-padding\" style=\"padding-bottom:56.25%\">\n<div style=\"display:contents\"><picture data-hydrate=\"false\"><source class=\"person__avatar image-wrapped__image image__image\" type=\"image\/webp\" srcset=\"https:\/\/cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net\/pNUhrQ5pNuBzAZUQEx7is8-140-80.jpg.webp 140w\" sizes=\"99vw\" data-normal=\"https:\/\/cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net\/pNUhrQ5pNuBzAZUQEx7is8.jpg\" data-original-mos=\"https:\/\/cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net\/pNUhrQ5pNuBzAZUQEx7is8.jpg\" data-pin-media=\"https:\/\/cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net\/pNUhrQ5pNuBzAZUQEx7is8.jpg\" data-pin-nopin=\"true\" data-slice-image=\"true\"><source class=\"person__avatar image-wrapped__image image__image\" type=\"image\/jpeg\" srcset=\"https:\/\/cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net\/pNUhrQ5pNuBzAZUQEx7is8-140-80.jpg 140w\" sizes=\"99vw\" data-normal=\"https:\/\/cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net\/pNUhrQ5pNuBzAZUQEx7is8.jpg\" data-original-mos=\"https:\/\/cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net\/pNUhrQ5pNuBzAZUQEx7is8.jpg\" data-pin-media=\"https:\/\/cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net\/pNUhrQ5pNuBzAZUQEx7is8.jpg\" data-pin-nopin=\"true\" data-slice-image=\"true\"><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"PS5 Slim\" srcset=\"https:\/\/cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net\/pNUhrQ5pNuBzAZUQEx7is8-140-80.jpg 140w\" sizes=\"99vw\" class=\"person__avatar image-wrapped__image image__image\" loading=\"lazy\" data-normal=\"https:\/\/cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net\/pNUhrQ5pNuBzAZUQEx7is8.jpg\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net\/pNUhrQ5pNuBzAZUQEx7is8.jpg\" data-pin-media=\"https:\/\/cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net\/pNUhrQ5pNuBzAZUQEx7is8.jpg\" data-pin-nopin=\"true\" data-slice-image=\"true\"\/><\/source><\/source><\/picture><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"person__heading\">\n<p><span class=\"person__name\">Game consoles are the best<\/span><\/p>\n<aside class=\"person__role\">All the best consoles of this generation<\/aside>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<hr id=\"elk-5b9e2145-6e3e-4e38-ad40-4ed5a5ba78fd\"\/>\n<p id=\"elk-fd733f19-8e00-4de5-8d02-db93db368f9e\"><u><em><strong>Follow TechRadar for Google news<\/strong><\/em><\/u>    again<em> <\/em><em><strong>add us as a favorite resource <\/strong><\/em><em>to get our expert news, reviews, and opinions in your feed. Be sure to click the Follow button!<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>And of course you can too <\/em><em><strong>follow TechRadar on TikTok<\/strong><\/em><em>    to get news, reviews, unboxings in video form, and get regular updates from us <\/em><em><strong>WhatsApp <\/strong><\/em><em>again.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Last of Us On the Internet game director Vinit Agarwal says the game was 80% complete before it was cancelled He says Naughty Dog has to choose between canceling the multiplayer game as well Intergalactic: The Rogue Prophet Agarwal read the &#8220;soul-crushing&#8221; news 24 hours before the public did Director of Naughty Dog&#8217;s The [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3642,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-3641","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-smart-home-gadgets"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wiki-living.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3641","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wiki-living.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wiki-living.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wiki-living.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wiki-living.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3641"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.wiki-living.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3641\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3643,"href":"https:\/\/www.wiki-living.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3641\/revisions\/3643"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wiki-living.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3642"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wiki-living.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3641"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wiki-living.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3641"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wiki-living.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3641"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}