Sony recently made the announcement that Marvel’s Iron Man VR and – perhaps more notably – The Last of Us Part 2 have both been delayed indefinitely, saying that the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has prevented them “from providing the launch experience our players deserve.” While some might assume that this means development of both games hasn’t progressed as desired due to developers working remotely, it seems that’s not the case- at least in Naughty Dog’s case.
The studio recently went live on Twitter and provided a statement on the game’s recent delay. Interestingly enough, Naughty Dog states that development on The Last of Us Part 2 is “nearly done” and that they are “in the midst of fixing our final bugs.” Why, then, has the game been delayed?
Naughty Dog states that due to “logistics beyond our control” – most likely referring to the retail shortages the game would likely face launching under current circumstances – they decided that they couldn’t release the game “to our satisfaction.”
“We want to make sure everyone gets to play The Last of Us Part 2 around the same time,” the developer writes, “ensuring that we’re doing everything possible to preserve the best experience for everyone. This meant delaying the game until such a time where we can solve these logistic issues.”
Naughty Dog also goes on to say that it’s hoping “this won’t be a long delay,” before adding that more information will be shared as soon as there is anything worth sharing.
Shortages or delays of physical copies of games are already being faced across the globe, with the publishers of some major releases like Resident Evil 3 and Final Fantasy 7 Remake already having spoken about the same.
Sony also has Ghost of Tsushima primed for release on June 26, but given how close that falls to what was until very recently the intended launch date for The Last of Us Part 2, it’s looking likely that that might end up getting delayed as well. The publisher did recently say that it was closely monitoring the risk of delays for upcoming PS4 titles- read more on that through here.