Bungie reportedly had a hand in TLOU: Factions’ delay
Last week's PlayStation Showcase was such a big deal that we're still talking about its reverberated effects the following week - and for a presentation that many called 'mid', that's a pretty solid result.
So much was revealed to us - Alan Wake II gameplay, the reveal of Metal Gear Solid's Snake Eater remake, and finally, we got to see how Spider-Man 2 plays - but there was one hefty omission.
The Last of Us has long been expected to return to the world of multiplayer with a new extension of the Factions mode that was presumed to have been a part of The Last of Us Part II - and given that the title has been in the works for so long, fans hoped it'd appear at the showcase. But alas, it didn't show.
And that might have been down to one external source.
Naughty Dog reveals reason for no Factions news
Fans have been pretty disappointed that Factions didn't show at the recent PlayStation Showcase, and it's clear that Naughty Dog knows this, as they have issued a statement regarding its progress.
"We know many of you have been looking forward to hearing more about our The Last of Us multiplayer game," reads a statement published on the company's social media channels. "We're incredibly proud of the job our studio has done thus far, but as development has continued, we've realized what is best for the game is to give it more time."
It's a succinct post from Naughty Dog, but it's certainly nice that the team are speaking directly to fans about their expectations and progress in development.
But this decision may not have been entirely their own.
Bungie reportedly suggested that Naughty Dog push back Factions
Click to enlargeIt looks as though it wasn't actually Naughty Dog that made the bold decision to hold back on Factions at the recent presentation from PlayStation - in fact, it's reported by Bloomberg that Destiny 2 developer Bungie had a hand in it.
According to the report, Naughty Dog has been asking Bungie for assistance in evaluation of their live-service titles (as, to be fair, that's kind of their thing), and the company expressed concerns about the longevity of player's engagement, and have suggested that it could struggle to "keep players engaged for a long period of time."
This is a pretty big revelation, and we'll just have to wait to see if it's true - but it makes sense that Naughty Dog are consulting the company that runs one of the biggest live-service games on the go right now. If Bungie thinks it's not ready, it probably isn't. Though we won't pretend we're not upset about it.
