Development of The Last of Us multiplayer has been canceled

After the multiplayer spin-off for The Last of Us has been in development for more than three years, developer Naughty Dog has finally pulled the plug.
You can find out everything about the background and the developers’ focus in the following article

Naughty Dog pulls the plug

Naughty Dog published a statement on the official website. It states that the multiplayer spin-off was far too ambitious a project for the team, especially in terms of providing content after the actual launch.
These resources would then be lacking in the development of future single-player titles, the statement continues.

The decision had to be made to either go all-in on live service games or, as in the past, to focus solely on story-driven single-player titles.

The decision then fell on the latter and sealed the end for multiplayer.

Originally, the multiplayer was supposed to appear as part of The Last of Us Part 2 and be a successor to the ‘Factions’ mode of the first part.
In mid-2023, Naughty Dog announced a delay to the standalone sequel, which did not bode well.

This means that the hope of discovering the universe of The Last of Us together with friends and perhaps also with other players is dead for the time being.
As a small consolation, however, Naughty Dog states that it is currently working on “more than one ambitious, brand-new single-player title”.