Naughty Dog has essentially confirmed its next game is a standalone multiplayer title, which is strongly believed to be related to The Last of Us 2. Naughty Dog had been developing a multiplayer mode for The Last of Us 2 in conjunction with the campaign, but it was eventually put to the side as the story mode grew more ambitious and required more of the team's attention. Naughty Dog suggested that something multiplayer-related within that universe would eventually release, and now this appears to be Naughty Dog's next game.
Job listings for what is likely The Last of Us 2's multiplayer have been popping up for months, which does lead to some questions about how far along it is. It's been a little over a year since the core game launched on PS4 and some work had already been done to it prior to release. It's unclear how much progress the team had made on the multiplayer before dedicating all of its time to the story mode. That said, if the project in development now is indeed The Last of Us 2 multiplayer, the scope must have increased significantly for Naughty Dog to be developing it as a standalone game.
In the past, Naughty Dog has often worked with considerable subtlety with regards to its upcoming multiplayer project. This latest job listing, courtesy of Naughty Dog Jobs on Twitter, is probably the most blatant example of the studio seemingly hiring for The Last of Us 2's multiplayer. Whether or not it'll even feature The Last of Us in the title of the standalone game remains to be seen, but the studio is looking for a number of people who can help flesh out the in-game economy, design gameplay, and do QA testing. The job listing also uses a picture of Ellie in The Last of Us 2, which seems to indicate it's probably related to that game.
See Naughty Dog's new job listing on Twitter here.
There's no telling how far off this project is, but it seems likely it could release in 2021 or 2022. It's also unclear how big this multiplayer mode is meant to be. Some players discovered assets for a potential battle royale in The Last of Us 2, which would certainly need a sizable amount of players and equally large map for players to roam around in. This mode could've been scrapped altogether, of course, but it wouldn't be surprising to see such a thing included in a standalone multiplayer title.
The Last of Us originally included a respectable PvP multiplayer mode with some fun gameplay and normal-sized maps. Fans enjoyed the first game's multiplayer, so it seems like Naughty Dog is doing its best to really flesh it out into a substantial experience that can likely tide fans over until whatever the studio plans on doing next. As of right now, there's still no real indication as to when or what to expect from this project, regardless of whether or not it truly is The Last of Us 2's multiplayer.
Source: Naughty Dog Jobs/Twitter