The Last Of Us 2 Just Got Spoiled For Everyone
Development on The Last of Us Part 2 hasn't been a walk in the park for the talented folks at Sony's Naughty Dog studio. The game was originally announced for a February 2020 release, but was on the receiving end of a delay that pushed its launch back to May 2020.
After that, well... things got a little crazy. The coronavirus happened, the world went into lockdown, and The Last of Us Part 2 was delayed once more.
At this point in time, the highly anticipated sequel doesn't have a release date at all, as Sony would struggle mightily to both manufacture copies of it and give it the kind of launch it deserves. It seems someone with access to the game isn't too happy about how things have played out, though. A boatload of footage from The Last of Us Part 2 has leaked online, and according to some who've viewed the clips, they spoil a lot of the game's story.
Now, we know what you're probably thinking: How can we be sure this footage is legitimate? The franchise has a lot of fans, after all, and some are undoubtedly very talented. Perhaps this is some fan fiction in CGI form, and the scenes being portrayed in the clips won't appear in The Last of Us Part 2 when it finally comes out. Engadget raised that same possibility, but ultimately concluded, "The gorgeous character models and voice work suggest the videos are real."
So yeah — you might want to avoid watching the videos if you don't want spoilers.
You might have some other questions, too — mainly, who would do this? And what would motivate someone to put such a massive leak online? While nothing's been confirmed at this time, there are some reports flying around that a former Naughty Dog employee posted the videos to exact a little revenge on the studio.
Naughty Dog is famous for working its developers extremely hard, so perhaps the culture at the studio had something to do with this particular employee's unhappiness. If that's the case, you might feel a little conflicted about who to blame here. On one hand, it's pretty lame that one person spoiled the hard work of hundreds. On the other hand, plenty of other companies have come under fire for making employees "crunch," yet Naughty Dog has kept the practice very much alive.
In fact, developers at the studio were putting in long hours to meet the previous May 29 release date. Thanks to the latest delay, those exhausting shifts wound up being somewhat unnecessary. That has to be frustrating, because it proved something that's now impossible to ignore: The Last of Us Part 2 didn't need to come out on May 29. Someone just wanted it to. Those are two very different things.
There is one final question regarding The Last of Us Part 2, now that huge story beats have leaked online. What happens now? How do Sony and Naughty Dog approach the situation, bearing in mind that huge sweeping changes to the game's story might be difficult to make at this point?
Many are calling for Sony to release The Last of Us Part 2 immediately as a digital download. That would certainly be a win for consumers, and even for those at Naughty Dog who want people to experience the game's narrative for themselves. Unfortunately, that might be easier said than done. There's a good chance The Last of Us Part 2 isn't even done yet. We're still a month ahead of when the game was supposed to come out.
One other option is for Sony and Naughty Dog to put that indefinite delay to good use. Sony already has a big summer exclusive coming with Ghost of Tsushima. It would certainly anger a lot of fans, but perhaps Sony could consider pushing The Last of Us Part 2 back to the launch of the PlayStation 5, or even into 2021. This would give Naughty Dog some time to alter a few story elements, and would have the added benefit of giving consumers a good reason to buy a PS5.
As it stands, neither Sony nor Naughty Dog have commented on the leak at this time, and there's no indication we'll get any official word as to its legitimacy. If you're planning on browsing Twitter today, though, you might want to do yourself a favor and mute a bunch of Last of Us-related keywords. Spoilers are already flooding the platform, as are hot takes about the leaked story bits. We're guessing you probably don't want to see those.