Just a couple months after hitting "quite a big milestone" on its way toward a planned release in September, a multiplayer mod for The Last of Us Part 2 has been scrapped thanks to a cease-and-desist letter from Sony.
"Hey everyone, as you all know, the TLOU 2 multiplayer mod that has been in development since January was supposed to release this month," mod maker Speclizer announced on X (via RPS). "Unfortunately I recently received a letter on behalf of Sony Interactive Entertainment requesting for the mod not to be released.
"Extremely sad that this never got to see the light of day but I hope you'll continue to follow me onto the next project, this time something of my own. Thank you all for the incredible amount of support over the last year. I hope to bring you something bigger and better soon!"
A specific release date for Speclizer's mod hadn't been announced, but it definitely looked close. In their most recent developer update video, Speclizer said the mod had "gone from a buggy 1v1 test to something that actually feels like a real multiplayer mode," with a loadout system, multiple weapons and skills, five maps, and basic leaderboards.
Part of the eagerness for this mod arises from Sony's decision to cancel The Last of Us Online, which got the axe in 2023 so Naughty Dog could keep its focus on big-budget singleplayer games. TLOU Online director Vinit Agarwal said earlier this year that the game was really good, which I suppose is what you'd expect him to say, and also that Naughty Dog had "developed it almost to 80% completion," which makes the disappointment of not getting it even more acute.
So that makes this the second time a Last of Us multiplayer joint came this close to release, only to be cut off by Sony. But it is perhaps not entirely surprising: Sony has ordered a halt to other mods in the past, and in at least one case caused a modder to preemptively pull his work offline before Sony brought the heat.
As some have noted on The Last of Us Part 2 subreddit, Speclizer was also supporting the mod through a Patreon page, and while the plan was reportedly to release the mod for free when it was complete, even a hint of monetization on unofficial projects like this is generally a recipe for trouble.
