Gaming

The Last Of Us Part 2 delayed until May – Naughty Dog officially confirms


The Last Of Us Part 2 – some fans are going to need a cuddle

Update:

Just as expected, Naughty Dog has announced that The Last Of Us Part 2 has been officially delayed until 29 May 2020.

That’s a little longer than originally hoped but writing on the PlayStation Blog, Naughty Dog creative director Neil Druckmann, explained the delay as follows:

‘It was during the last few weeks, as we were closing out sections of the game, that we realised we simply didn’t have enough time to bring the entire game up to a level of polish we would call Naughty Dog quality’.

‘At this point we were faced with two options: compromise parts of the game or get more time. We went with the latter, and this new release date allows us to finish everything to our level of satisfaction while also reducing stress on the team’.

The reference to stress levels is a reaction to increasing controversy across the industry about work conditions and the dreaded ‘crunch’, where many developers are expected to work extreme levels of overtime – often with little or no extra pay – in the final months of a game’s development.

That makes this one of the first examples of a company refusing to crunch to get a game finished and openly admitting that’s one of the reasons why it will be delayed.

 

Original story:

Sources claim that Naughty Dog’s The Last Of Us sequel will miss its February release date, and Ghost Of Tsushima has been pushed back too.

The release date was only announced last month but it looks like it could be an even longer wait than expected for The Last Of Us Part 2, as rumours suggest it’s already been delayed.

Kotaku claims it has two sources that verify the delay, while yesterday respected analyst Daniel Ahmad hinted at ‘unexpected news’ coming from Sony ‘soon’.

The game was supposed to be out on 21 February, but the rumours suggest it now won’t be released until the spring, which is technically March through May.

As a knock-on effect Kotaku writer Jason Schreier claims that Ghost Of Tsushima, which Sony had apparently pencilled in for release in the first half of the year, has been delayed until later in 2020.

What is The Last Of Us 2 release date?

It’s not a very long delay but the February date was one of the few quiet spots in what is an unusually busy first half of the year for major releases.

As big a game as The Last Of Us is it will now have to fit itself somewhere in-between Final Fantasy VII Remake (3 March), Watch Dogs: Legion (6 March), Doom Eternal (20 March), Animal Crossing: New Horizons (20 March), and Cyberpunk 2077 (16 April).

Of course, it all depends on how long the delay is for, and whether the rumour is actually true, but everything points towards an official announcement in the next few days.

None of this is unusual for Naughty Dog games, but it does also push the game’s release even closer to the PlayStation 5’s launch next Christmas.

It may now be that it will launch after the PlayStation 5 itself is officially unveiled, which could lead to some interesting announcements about backwards compatibility and/or remasters.

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