After a report recently emerged about Naughty Dog’s The Last of Us Part 2 being delayed to Spring 2019, Sony has officially confirmed the same. The PS4 exclusive will now be releasing on May 29th, 2020. That’s a little more than three months from its original release of February 21st, 2020.
According to director Neil Druckmann on the PlayStation Blog, the delay comes at an odd time. After all, the game was recently previewed and dated a month ago. “However, it was during the last few weeks, as we were closing out sections of the game, that we realized 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.
“While we’re relieved that we won’t have to compromise our vision, we’re disappointed that we weren’t able to avoid this exact situation. We wish we could’ve foreseen the amount of polish we needed, but the size and scope of this game got the better of us. We hate disappointing our fans and for that we’re sorry.” Druckmann then thanked fans for their “patience and continued support”.
Such delays are nothing new for Naughty Dog’s team. Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End was delayed a number of times, owing to changes in the development team that saw Amy Hennig leave the company. It doesn’t seem like multiple delays will be happening with The Last of Us Part 2, so fingers crossed that it arrives in May.
The Last of Us Part 2 is a fairly ambitious game for the studio, and is roughly 50 percent bigger than its predecessor. The focus on the campaign is one reason why multiplayer won’t be available at launch. Stay tuned for more details and other potential delays (like those recently announced for Watch Dogs Legion, Rainbow Six: Quarantine, and Gods and Monsters).
