A PhD scientist in a past life, Henry was struck by a rogue laser beam and transformed into a fiendish gremlin of games. A dedicated disciple of all things horror, he’s forever in search of his next big scare. Delving into the realm of retro survival horror is his idea of a cozy weekend. The former senior editor of Restart.run, Henry mastered the dark arts of short-form video production and can now typically be found interviewing video game composers and developers, as well as producing or presenting plenty of entertaining nonsense across Instagram, YT, and TikTok. If you’re struggling to find him, Henry’s most likely frozen in analysis paralysis over a beloved board game (his favourite being Terraforming Mars, for those curious).
The Last of Us 2‘s Abby and Ellie were all but set to take their infamous feud online courtesy of a fan-made mod for Naughty Dog’s critically acclaimed revenge-and-grief simulator. Anyone hoping to relive the pair’s theater and beach-based duels will have to stick to the story, however, as it appears that The Last of Us 2 multiplayer mod has apparently been halted by Sony Interactive Entertainment at the eleventh hour.
The multiplayer mod was being created by modder and YouTuber ‘Speclizer,’ with part funding via their Patreon account. After beginning work in January, they had steadily shared updates on progress, including showcasing full team matches between Seraphite and WLF factions, as well as additions like public matchmaking and pre-match loadouts.
Speclizer had planned to release the multiplayer mod in September this year, but according to a new post that will no longer be the case due to an apparent request by Sony Interactive Entertainment.
“Hey everyone, as you all know, the The Last of Us 2 multiplayer mod that has been in development since January was supposed to release this month,” Speclizer claims in a post on X. “Unfortunately I recently received a letter on behalf of Sony Interactive Entertainment requesting for the mod not to be released.
“Extremely sad that this never got to see the light of day but I hope you’ll continue to follow me onto the next project, this time something of my own. Thank you all for the incredible amount of support over the last year. I hope to bring you something bigger and better soon!”
The PvP multiplayer mode was only the start of planned The Last of Us Part 2 mod releases, with Speclizer also lining up a co-op mod after, much to the request of their followers.
“Just to answer a commonly asked question, co-op will be worked on after the public release of this PvP mode,” Speclizer wrote several weeks prior in a pinned YouTube comment. “PvP turned out to be the easier path, and it creates a solid base for when co-op development starts.”
With Sony stepping in to halt competitive multiplayer, however, it seems likely that any attempts to release a co-op mod would share a similar fate.
A multiplayer mode was originally planned for The Last of Us Part 2 before being ditched by developer Naughty Dog in favor of a full focus on the single-player experience. A further multiplayer project promised after the game’s release similarly failed to realize. It seems Ellie, Abby and The Last of Us Part 2’s many other vengeful inhabitants will have to keep their beef offline for now.