‘The Last of Us Part 2’ Delayed

Recently, the gaming community rejoiced with the announcement of The Last of Us Part 2’s release date. After what felt like an eternity, everyone was giddy to see those numbers come up on the screen- February 21, 2020. Those numbers did not last long though. Recently, Sony and Naughty Dog have confirmed that The Last of Us Part 2 is delayed. Fans will now have to wait until May 21 to reunite with Joel and Ellie.

The news comes as a shock to many excited fans. We just got a new trailer and the release date only a month ago. How could things have escalated to this so quickly? Neil Druckmann, director of the game, addresses this in a recent letter to fans. He says:

“I know. It was just about a month ago when we had our big blowout for the game, letting media play over two hours of it along with debuting our new story trailer and revealing the release date. The positive response we saw from our community was overwhelming.”

“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 could 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.”

Druckmann did not mention any plans for a PS5 release of the game. The game’s push back will put it even closer to the release window for the PS5 console. So, while it is likely the game will get a PS5 version, the question becomes if players will need to buy the game twice. Hopefully, the extra time means that The Last of Us part 2 will be everything we want it to be.