Former Naughty Dog director Vinit Agarwal has described the canceled The Last of Us Online as an extraction shooter.
During an interview on the Lance E. Lee Podcast from Tokyo, former Naughty Dog director Vinit Agarwal shared new details on the canceled The Last of Us Online, suggesting that the multiplayer title was an extraction shooter at its core, one that was grounded in personal experience and emotional realism. That project was in development for nearly 7 years, spanning roughly 2016 to 2023. According to him, the game reached “almost 80% completion” and was “very, very close to done” before being abruptly canceled.
Project Cancellation
Agarwal explained that the cancellation was largely the result of shifting industry conditions. During the COVID-19 pandemic, online games experienced a massive surge in popularity, prompting game companies like Sony Interactive Entertainment to heavily invest in multiplayer projects. However, as global conditions normalized in 2022 and 2023, player engagement and spending declined, forcing the industry to scale back. Faced with difficult decisions, the company opted to prioritize a new project led by Druckmann over Agarwal’s more experimental multiplayer title.
Extraction Shooter At Its Core
Unlike traditional shooters, The Last of Us Online was designed to evoke the raw fear and desperation of survival. Agarwal described it as an experience where players scavenge for resources, with “one of the best sources of supplies [being] to kill the other player.”
The inspiration came from two real-life traumatic incidents in which Agarwal was threatened at gunpoint. In one case, he recalled being robbed in Austin, Texas, where attackers “tripped [him] with a shotgun” and demanded he “empty [his] pockets.” In another, he was chased late at night in New York City by a group attempting to steal his phone. These moments shaped what he called the “core thesis” of the game i.e. to simulate the fear of being hunted and the moral desperation that drives people to violence.
“I wanted people to get that feeling,” he explained, emphasizing how the game mirrored the brutal survival themes of The Last of Us universe. In internal playtests, he experienced moments where his “heart was beating in [his] chest,” recreating the same adrenaline and fear he felt in real life.
Back in December, 2023, a leaked screenshot from The Last of Us Online’s menu screen was leaked, revealing details on progression, Battlepass and Seasons. Read about it here.
