Will Last Of Us 2 Multiplayer Be Free-To-Play?

Fans of The Last of Us Part II are still eagerly awaiting more concrete news on its expected, standalone multiplayer component, which could potentially be free-to-play. Though there hasn’t been any new, official information, a job listing from developer Naughty Dog provides a couple more hints as to what the follow-up to TLOU‘s Factions game mode will look like. It’s impossible to say for certain just yet, but it’s starting to seem more likely that the multiplayer for TLOU 2 could be free-to-play.

Prior to the release of TLOU 2 in 2020, it was revealed that the game would not include any multiplayer elements, and ship exclusively with just its story mode. Naughty Dog promised that the multiplayer would come eventually, citing the project becoming too ambitious as the reason for its absence from TLOU 2. Roughly a year and half after TLOU 2 released, Factions 2 (or whatever Naughty Dog is going to call it) hasn’t even had so much as a teaser trailer.

In lieu of any updates on The Last Of Us 2‘s multiplayer, the latest buzz surrounding TLOU 2‘s multiplayer comes courtesy of a job posting listed by Naughty Dog for a Senior Monetization/Economy Designer. The listing doesn’t specify the work will be for Factions 2 exactly, but it does mention “the studio’s first standalone multiplayer game,” of which only one is known to be in development at Naughty Dog. A list of responsibilities in the listing all point toward to what appears to be some form of live service monetization, where in-game cosmetics and a continuous stream of new content are priority. Some full-priced games have been known to include battle passes and the like, but it’s a much more common feature of free-to-play multiplayer titles.

TLOU 2 Multiplayer Might Be Leaning Into Free-to-Play Monetization

Most would probably consider the The Last Of Us’s Factions mode a success for what it was – an interesting and fun game mode tacked onto a much more important single-player story. It reminded of the cover-based, third-person multiplayer from Gears of War, while simultaneously including the foraging and crafting mechanics of TLOU itself. A sort of abstract, gameplay-dependent narrative had players growing their community of survivors by competing against each other. It had a modicum of customization, letting players change their character’s headgear and mask, but it would appear that TLOU 2‘s multiplayer will take this even further.

Purchasable cosmetics are the lifeblood of modern live service games. TLOU 2‘s third-person perspective is ripe for a similar monetization model, especially if it follows the lead of its predecessor and positions players as essentially faceless survivors (even though there was a weird difference in camera shake depending on TLOU character gender). Going free-to-play is likely the best way to get a player base to buy into that system as well. Even people who haven’t played either game in the series might be inclined to check it out if the entry cost is $0. Once again, almost nothing has been officially confirmed about The Last of Us Part II‘s multiplayer mode, but with the tidbits that can be inferred, and from an armchair economist standpoint, there seems to be a decent chance it will be free-to-play.

Source: Naughty Dog

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