The Last of Us divides devs again
- Former Naughty Dog artist Heather Cerlan said Joel’s death in The Last of Us Part II split the studio before the 2020 release. - Cerlan told Kiwi Talkz the team was “pretty split,” while fresh reports also revived praise for the canceled Last of Us Online project. - HBO’s Season 2 adaptation pushed the six-year-old debate back into view. (eurogamer.net)
A former Naughty Dog developer says Joel’s death in *The Last of Us Part II* divided the studio before the game launched in June 2020. (gamespot.com) (eurogamer.net) Heather Cerlan, an environment and texture artist who worked on *The Last of Us* and *Part II*, said on Kiwi Talkz that Naughty Dog was “pretty split” on killing Joel. (gamespot.com) (tech.yahoo.com) Cerlan said the team knew the scene would land hard with players, and she described the choice as “controversial internally too.” (gamespot.com) (eurogamer.net) The comments resurfaced as HBO’s *The Last of Us* Season 2 adapted Joel’s death, putting the game’s biggest story decision back in front of a mass audience. (gamespot.com) (thewrap.com) The new reporting also revived discussion of *The Last of Us Online*, the multiplayer project Naughty Dog canceled in December 2023 after saying its post-launch demands would pull resources from future single-player games. (naughtydog.com) (ign.com) Former game director Vinit Agarwal said ex-colleagues still message him that the canceled project was “the best multiplayer game they’ve ever played.” (ign.com) (pushsquare.com) When Naughty Dog canceled the game, the studio said it had to choose between becoming a live-service operation for years or continuing to make story-driven single-player titles. (naughtydog.com) (gameinformer.com) Naughty Dog’s next announced game is *Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet*, a new PlayStation 5 franchise Neil Druckmann unveiled on December 12, 2024. (naughtydog.com) (blog.playstation.com) Six years after *Part II* launched, the studio is still being defined in public by one death it chose to include and one online game it chose to leave behind. (gamespot.com) (ign.com)
