Naughty Dogis hiring for an Associate Multiplayer Quality Assurance Tester/Development Support, according to a recent job listing, but what’s interesting is this position would be working on “multiplayer titles,” suggesting more thanThe Last of Usmultiplayer game is in the works.Naughty Dog recently teased more information on a new multiplayerLast of Usgame, perhaps similar to the first game’s Factions game mode, to come sometime this year. It has not been “officially” announced and has no proper title as of this writing.
Prior tothe release ofThe Last of Us 2, it was slated to come with a multiplayer mode that was ultimately cut. Naughty Dog explained, at the time, that both sides of the project were so ambitious that this multiplayer component couldn’t be a simple online mode. Fans have been waiting on an update ever since, but as it stands, it seems they may want to be ready for at least two updates, eventually.
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TheNaughty Doglisting for a QA Tester isn’t out of the ordinary in terms of responsibilities or goals. Those who apply and are hired will need to be able to identify, log, and maintain gameplay issues; do bug regression testing when applicable; have a working knowledge of the PS4 and PS5 ecosystems; have the ability to accept additional responsibilities, as needed; and more. The listing also states that the QA tester will be bringing a high level of sensibility and attention to detail to the company’s “first standalone multiplayer project” but also follows that up by defining the role as “quality assurance/development support with a focus on our multiplayer titles[emphasis added].”
Now, it’s entirely possible that this ambiguity is intentional or that this is something as simple as a typo, but if it’s not a typo, then it could very well be a slight reference to at least two multiplayer games in development at Naughty Dog. It’s hard to say for sure, and given how little is known about the multiplayerLast of Us-related game, it’s possible the second is very early in development and unconnected to prior ND work. Either way, the company is likely to focus on this first multiplayer game this year and not reference the second publicly, for some time to come.
This work by Naughty Dog is likely part of Sony’s plans to release ten live-service games by 2026. Recently, an exec promised fans thatnarrative-drive single-player games will always be part of Sony’s portfolio, but if ND is working on multiplayer games now, it’s not certain if recentUncharted 5rumorshave much weight to them.
