Last of Us 2 multiplayer plans axed as it’s confirmed game is on 2 discs

The Last of Us Part 2 won’t feature a multiplayer mode, Naughty Dog has confirmed.

While the studio previously planned to include a multiplayer component of some sort, it’s since changed strategy in order to focus on delivering the best possible single-player experience, it said at a media event on Tuesday.

Naughty Dog president and creative director Neil Druckmann also confirmed to The Telegraph the developer has made the unprecedented decision to ship the game on two PS4 discs.

“It’s so ambitious the game doesn’t fit on one BluRay, it’s on two discs,” he said.

“It’s so ambitious that we actually decided to make it single player only. There’s no multiplayer in The Last of Us Part 2. We wanted to take all of the resources to make this the biggest game we’ve ever done.”

Update: Naughty Dog has released the following statement addressing the decision not to include a multiplayer component with The Last of Us Part 2:

Original story continues: Druckmann added: “This story is ambitious and complex in ways that the first one wasn’t. And it needed to be that big to tell this kind of story with this many characters.

“We didn’t set out to make the biggest game ever, it just kind of evolved that way. We got excited by how much this story has to offer, and there’s going to be moments where you’ll think you’re getting to the end and you’ll realise it was just the opening part and it’s opened up to this whole other section.”

Sony made several The Last of Us Part 2 announcements during a PlayStation State of Play live stream on Tuesday.

In confirmed a Last of Us Part 2 release date of February 21, 2020, plus three The Last of Us 2 special editions.

It also announced that The Last of Us Remastered and MLB The Show 19 will be October’s free PS4 games for PlayStation Plus subscribers.

In early September, after almost a decade, Sony ended multiplayer support for Uncharted 2, Uncharted 3 and The Last of Us on PS3.