Xbox co-founder Laura Fryer commented on the cancellation of The Last of Us Online. She stated that the closure was the right decision, but supported the developers whose work was not released.
Fryer noted that multiplayer requires serious planning. She praised Naughty Dog for abandoning the "error of sunk costs," despite years of development.
Many say that the game should have been finished and released, because it was almost ready. But this is a classic example of the error of sunk costs. Studios spend years and millions, feel obligated to release the game, even understanding that support will be difficult. The result is a raw product, the team burns out, and it all ends badly.
Naughty Dog didn't do that. They made a more difficult decision. They assessed the prospects and decided to wait, instead of risking turning the entire studio into a machine focused on launching one game-service for many years. In my opinion, it was the right decision.
Fryer criticized the studio's management, stating that the project should not have been launched. According to her, service games require constant content and resources, and a studio of this scale would not be able to support two directions at once.
Development went on for 7 years without proper analysis. Only after the Bungie check in 2023 did it become clear that the project was problematic.
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