Canceled Last of Us Online Creator Forms New Studio for Similar Title

The director of the canceled The Last of Us online spin-off states he has launched a new studio in Japan to create something similar.

Vinit Argawal, who worked at Naughty Dog for nearly a decade, was the director of the game known internally as The Last of Us Online – which was canceled.

Now, in a new interview with Game*Spark (via VGC), Argawal said that he and former Naughty Dog Creative Director Joe Pettinati formed a new studio because they want to create something similar.

Specifically, Argawal explained he wanted to create a multiplayer game offering the level of action found in a typical Naughty Dog single-player title. Here’s what he said about his career:

“My main credits were Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End, Uncharted: The Lost Legacy, and The Last of Us Part 2. I worked on both multiplayer and single-player modes.

I was primarily responsible for boss battles, and Naughty Dog’s boss battles are typically one-on-one situations. So, I wanted players to feel like they were fighting a human player, not AI, even in the single-player mode.

To be specific, I worked on the final boss in A Thief’s End and the Ellie vs. Abby fight in The Last of Us Part II. I used all my multiplayer knowledge to create the feeling of fighting a human.

A large part of why I was inspired [to go independent] was seeing the potential to combine Naughty Dog’s specialty, cinematic action, with multiplayer.

Argawal has opened an office in Japan, while Pettinati remains in the US, with their game being developed at both “hubs.” The team currently has about 10 employees in total, with plans to grow to around 30.

The new game, which Argawal describes as an “Indie AAA” title, has been in development for several months. While not yet ready for public showing, he says he is “playing it with friends every week.”

“There isn’t much we can say yet, but the new game is a multiplayer game, and our goal is to bring the cinematic action we’re familiar with from our previous titles to multiplayer,” he said. “We’re already in talks with partners and hope to have more information to share in the future.”