The Last of Us Multiplayer director says he'll never let a project he's worked on "not see the light of day again"

Vinit Agarwal says ex-colleagues still tell him how great the experience could have been.
Text: Alex Hopley
Published 2026-04-28

The Last of Us Multiplayer game is likely going to be one of the biggest gaming what ifs of the 2020s. The project was cancelled at Naughty Dog, allegedly after Bungie took one look at it and decided it wasn't strong enough to compete in today's market. However, the developers who'd worked on the project still believed in it, and the director would have loved to see it released, just to know whether the external hype could have lived up to the reception it got internally.

Vinit Agarwal, the former game director on The Last of Us Multiplayer title, said that "it's wild how many of my ex-colleagues still message me today saying how amazing TLOU Online was going to be." Some apparently called it "the best multiplayer game they've ever played." Due to the experience of seeing the project cancelled before his eyes, Agarwal made a vow. "Never going to let what I work on not see the light of day again," he said.

<social>https://x.com/vinixkun/status/2047932214181265713</social>

It is possible that The Last of Us Online could have been the multiplayer shot of adrenaline we've all been waiting for. Then again, it could have just as easily stumbled as we've seen so many live-service games do over the past few years. Highguard proved internal impressions mean very little when you ship a game to the public, but there will always be fans wondering what the The Last of Us Multiplayer would have been like if it hadn't been cancelled.

Back