Unlike the first game, there are no plans for DLC content for The Last of Us Part II, Naughty Dog’s Neil Druckmann has publicly stated. Since nothing was confirmed in the run up to the game’s release, and given the size of the game, that makes perfect sense to me.
The confirmation came as part of a spoilercast with Kinda Funny, in which game director and studio vice president Neil Druckmann said they won’t be doing any DLC for the game. However, it does not rule out future The Last of Us goodness in future. In fact, Druckmann has previously said that his next game will either be a third The Last of Us game – which I’m sure Sony would love – or a brand new IP. He’s also acting as writer and executive producer for the upcoming The Last of Us television adaptation on HBO.
Not making DLC certainly makes here. Looking back at the original game, the Left Behind DLC was part of an expansion pass sold alongside the main game and included in collector’s editions and pre-orders. That naturally helped to set the budget for the project and expectations within the studio. Even then, it grew beyond the original scope, and it was eventually decided to be a standalone release with a higher price point.
Since then, Sony’s first party studios have changed their approach to adding content after a game’s release, focussing more on standalone releases rather than DLC with the likes of inFamous: First Light, Uncharted: Lost Legacy and the upcoming Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales. Given that we’re at the dawn of a new generation, any standalone follow up would also let Naughty Dog focus on the new console and experiment with its capabilities.
Additionally, there’s already further The Last of Us content confirmed to be on the way, in the form of a multiplayer game. Originally intended to be a part of the main release, the scope of Part II grew to the point that multiplayer had to be sidelined and removed from the game. The plan is now to create this as a separate release. title
However, Naughty Dog ultimately made the decision to drop multiplayer from Part II, delivering the following message to their fans last year:
We wanted to address multiplayer in The Last of Us Part 2. As we’ve stated, the single player campaign is far and away the most ambitious project Naughty Dog has ever undertaken. Likewise, as development began on the evolution of our Factions mode from The Last of Us Part 1, the vision of the team grew beyond an additional mode that could be included with our enormous single player campaign. Wanting to support both visions, we made the difficult choice that The Last of Us Part 2 would not include an online mode.
However, you will eventually experience the fruits of our team’s online ambition, but not as a part of The Last of Us Part 2. When and where it will be realized is still to be determined. But rest assured, we are as big a fan of Factions as the rest of our community and are excited to share more when it’s ready.
Source:Â youtube.com
