Sony was clearly bothered that a team of modders had done what Naughty Dog had abandoned several years prior.

Sony Interactive Entertainment reportedly sent a warning to the developers, thwarting the release of a multiplayer mod for the PC version of The Last of Us Part 2. The Specizer mod team developed the unofficial The Last of Us Part 2 multiplayer mod and showcased it in detailed videos uploaded to YouTube this summer. Funded partially through Patreon, the mod included numerous unique features, such as special abilities and limited eavesdropping mechanics, as well as new maps. However, according to the group, the mod will no longer be released at the request of Naughty Dog and Sony, the owners of The Last of Us.

Hey everyone, as you all know, the TLOU 2 Multiplayer mod that has been in development since January was supposed to release this month. Unfortunately I recently received a letter on behalf of Sony Interactive Entertainment requesting for the mod not to be released. Extremely sad…

— Speclizer (@Speclizer_) September 13, 2026

“Hey everyone, as you all know, the TLOU 2 multiplayer mod that has been in development since January was supposed to be released this month. Unfortunately, I recently received a letter from Sony Interactive Entertainment requesting that the mod not be released. I’m extremely sad that it never saw the light of day, but I hope you’ll follow me to my next project, which is something of my own. Thank you all for the incredible support over the last year. I hope to bring you something bigger and better soon!”, wrote Speclizer.

The Last of Us Part 2 was originally planned to include an official multiplayer mode. However, in September 2019, Neil Druckmann, the president of Naughty Dog and director of The Last of Us Part II, announced that the game would not include a multiplayer component. The studio decided to focus all its resources on making this the greatest game possible. Naughty Dog promised to release a new multiplayer game in the The Last of Us series after completing work on the sequel, but these efforts also failed to result in the game’s release. In June 2022, the first concept art for The Last of Us Online was released. Druckmann stated that the game would have its own story and an entirely new cast of characters and that its scale would rival that of any of the studio’s single-player titles.

Naughty Dog justified its decision to cancel the 2023 live-service game by explaining that continuing the project would have required devoting all its resources to supporting post-launch content. This would have meant giving up the single-player experiences for which the studio is famous.

Source: VGC