TLOU Online Game Director talks about the game's cancellation, now making a 90s anime aesthetic game with a Japanese studio
I'll post my overview from the PSOT of the interview Starts at 46:48 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ezqv1IyLNlQ In short: TLOU Online got cancelled at 80% completion, 7 years in development as game funding dropped post covid, with Naughty Dog having to choose between supporting the Online...
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Here's what Vinit said in the interview:
TLOU Factions development lasted for 7 years (So started after Uncharted 4 concluded)
When covid started and people working at home started playing a lot more online games with their friends, Sony and all other publishers put a lot of money into Online game which increased Factions budget considerably
In 2022/2023 people came back to work at the office and online gaming engagement dropped considerably, and investment in gaming dropped in turn.
How Vinit positions it, it became essentially a question of "are we making this game, or are we making Neil's next game Intergalactic", which kinda reaffirms ND's statement that the support needed to maintain the game was too high to actually be able to make new games.
At the point of cancellation, the game was around 80% complete.
He doesn't go into detail as to what the game was, but he compares real life events as the inspirations for the game, in a way that to me sounds a lot like an Extraction Shooter, essentially fighting each other for resources.
He now owns a game studio in Japan, and is making a new game with a 90s anime aesthetic, is gritty and mature but with that anime styling.
Last very interesting thing he mentioned: After the cancellation he stayed at Naughty Dog for another year, working as a "Game Director on one of their future games", way he put it did not sound like Intergalactic to me at all. ND have also previously said when Factions was cancelled that they have 2 SP games in development.
Sony die Meister, die 80% fertige Spiele canceln, nur weil sie es nicht schaffen, Content zu liefern und Serverkosten zu bezahlen.
