Former Xbox exec thinks Naughty Dog's decision to cancel the 80% completed
The Last of Us Online 'was the right call', but it shouldn't have greenlit it in the first place 'The ambition was there, but the realistic upfront planning wasn't', she says

Date:
Fri, 10 Apr 2026 16:04:55 +0000

Description:
Former Microsoft Game Studios executive producer Laura Fryer thinks the decision to cancel The Last of Us Online was the right decision on Naughty Dog's part and greenlighting the project was the "real mistake".

FULL STORY ======================================================================Copy link Facebook X Whatsapp Reddit Pinterest Flipboard Threads Email Share this article 0 Join the conversation Follow us Add us as a preferred source on Google Newsletter Tech Radar Get daily insight, inspiration and deals in your inbox Sign up for breaking news, reviews, opinion, top tech deals, and more. Become a Member in Seconds Unlock instant access to exclusive member
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your information you agree to the Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy and are aged 16 or over. You are now subscribed Your newsletter sign-up was successful Join the club Get full access to premium articles, exclusive features and a growing list of member rewards. Explore An account already exists for this email address, please log in. Subscribe to our newsletter Former Microsoft executive Laura Fryer says Naughty Dog's decision to cancel The Last of Us Online was "the right call" She explains that the studio "made the harder choice" by looking ahead and realizing it wouldn't be able to sustain a live service game Fryer also questioned why Naughty Dog greenlit it in the first place, saying, "The ambition was there, but the realistic
upfront planning wasn't" Former Microsoft Game Studios executive producer Laura Fryer thinks the decision to cancel The Last of Us Online was the right decision on Naughty Dog's part, and greenlighting the project was the "real mistake".

Earlier this month, The Last of Us Online game director Vinit Agarwal
revealed that the multiplayer spin-off was "almost to 80% completion" and
"was very, very close to done" before Naughty Dog pulled the plug in 2023 .
At the time of the game's cancellation, the studio renowned for its single-player titles like Uncharted and The Last of Us said it canceled the project because it didn't want to "become a solely live service games
studio". Article continues below You may like The Last of Us Online director reveals Naughty Dog had to choose between canceling the '80%' completed game and Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet 'It was soul crushing. To find out that it was getting canceled 24 hours before it was announced' publicly 'Is Marathon a success? Unfortunately, no, not yet' Former Xbox exec says Bungie's new extraction shooter was built at a scale and cost that the
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Agarwal, who shared that he worked on the game for seven years, learned about its cancellation 24 hours before the public, and that Naughty Dog decided to focus on its main single-player narrative game, Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet , instead of diverting resources to an online title.

According to Laura Fryer, despite how devastating the cancellation was for
the team and "soul crushing" as Agarwal described, this was "the right call".

"A lot of people are saying they should have just finished the game and shipped it because it was so close, and I understand how frustrating it must be for the players who were looking forward to the game," Fryer said in a new YouTube video.

"But I think that's missing the bigger picture because the truth is that this is a classic example of the sunk cost fallacy, and I've seen it play out many times before where you have a studio that's already spent many years and millions of and they feel like they have to ship the game anyway, that they have no choice, even when they know the long-term live service support will
be brutal." Get daily insight, inspiration and deals in your inbox Sign up
for breaking news, reviews, opinion, top tech deals, and more. Contact me
with news and offers from other Future brands Receive email from us on behalf of our trusted partners or sponsors By submitting your information you agree to the Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy and are aged 16 or over. Naughty Dog Was RIGHT to Cancel The Last of Us Online. The Real Mistake Was Starting It. - YouTube Watch On Fryter continued, saying Naughty Dog didn't do this
and "made the harder choice" by looking ahead and realizing it wouldn't be able to sustain a multiplayer game and risk turning the single-player studio into a live service operation only able to support one game for years to
come.

"In my opinion, that was the right call," she said. "Even though it hurt the team that worked so hard on it, they chose to go back to what the bread and butter of their studio was, single-player narrative games."

The former Xbox executive also questioned why Naughty Dog decided to start
the project in the first place, calling the live service model "an infinite treadmill" for studios working on these types of games. What to read next Split Fiction director Josef Fares praises Nintendo, Rockstar and Naughty Dog for 'pushing the envelope of innovation with a AAA budget' 'I think, ultimately, we could have made a different trailer' Wildlight Entertainment CEO wishes 'Highguard had been received better' amidst the game's negative review score on Steam Sony has shut down Dark Outlaw Games one year after its founding and while it was reportedly 'still in the early stages' of
developing its project

"Any studio leader could have run the numbers on what a team [of] Naughty Dog's size could realistically support," Fryer continued. "They could have seen pretty clearly that a team the size of Naughty Dog could never support a live service game and all of their amazing cinematic single player games. It wasn't possible. But instead of doing that analysis, they went ahead and let the game go forward. They let it run for 7 years."

Following The Last of Us Online's cancellation , former PlayStation executive Shuhei Yoshida revealed that feedback from Destiny developer Bungie played a part in the decision , and Naughty Dog realized they couldn't support it alongside their single-player projects.

Fryer remarks that this was the "core issue" from the start, saying, "The ambition was there, but the realistic upfront planning wasn't."

"Naughty Dog ultimately protected what they do best, good cinematic single player games. That's good leadership, even when it hurts," she added. "And sometimes the bravest thing a studio can do is to admit that something isn't going to work before it drags the whole company down with it."

She continued, explaining that while fans can be disappointed and she understands the pain of the development team, "pulling the plug, that was not the real mistake."

"The real mistake was in greenlighting this experiment in the first place without doing the homework up front. That's my take," Fryer said. The best
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Link to news story: https://www.techradar.com/gaming/former-xbox-exec-thinks-naughty-dogs-decision -to-cancel-the-80-percent-completed-the-last-of-us-online-was-the-right-call-b ut-it-shouldnt-have-greenlit-it-in-the-first-place-the-ambition-was-there-but- the-realistic-upfront-planning-wasnt-she-says


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