Naughty Dog has taken to Twitter to address multiplayer in The Last of Us Part II following yesterday’s news that the game won’t include a multiplayer mode.

　　Fans were shocked to hear that one of the most anticipated PlayStation 4 titles won’t include an additional multiplayer mode as Naughty Dog has stated that The Last of Us Part II is strictly a single-player title. The online Factions mode in the original The Last of Us was quite good, and with Naughty Dog having multiplayer modes in all of their titles since 2009’s Uncharted 2 on the PlayStation 3, we found this a rather ‘interesting’ decision.

　　The Last of Us Part II has been in the works for 5 years and with Naughty Dog stating that the game is going to be their biggest game to date, ditching multiplayer altogether didn’t seem logical. As covered yesterday, Naughty Dog still appears to be hiring multiplayer gameplay programmers, and the Sony-owned development studio has now confirmed that the team is still working on a stand-alone multiplayer project.

　　“We wanted to address multiplayer in The Last of Us Part II. As we’ve stated, the single-player campaign is far and away the most ambitious project Naughty Dog has ever undertaken”, Naughty Dog writes on Twitter. “Likewise, as development began on the evolution of our Factions mode from The Last of Us Part I, 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 I would not include an online mode.”

　　From the looks of it, this stand-alone multiplayer project does have ties with the Factions mode in The Last of Us Part II. “However, you will eventually experience the fruits of our team’s online ambition, but not as part of The Last of Us Part II. When and where it will be realized is still to be determined. But rest assured, we are as community and are excited to share more when it’s ready. big a fan of Factions as the rest of our community and are excited to share more when it’s ready.”

　　What are your thoughts on this? Will Naughty Dog release its online project as a PlayStation 5 launch title? Will this multiplayer portion be included in a possible The Last of Us Part II remaster for the PS5? Hit the comments down below.

　　The Last of Us Part II will release on February 21 exclusively for the PlayStation 4.