Naughty Dog and PlayStation may have revealed when The Last of Us 2 might come out. The rumored The Last of Us 2 release date was shown in a string of videos on the PlayStation Music YouTube channel the title have a “(2019)” next to it. Naughty Dog has been very tight-lipped about when the game will come out, although this slip-up on the PlayStation Music channel may have given us a release window.
The new videos were released for Outbreak Day — the in-game date that the cordyceps fungus reached a critical mass. That date is September 26, and Naughty Dog have celebrated it yearly with sales, merchandise, and news about the sequel. The PlayStation Music channel uploaded six videos of music from The Last of Us Part 2 on September 28, and each video has the same description.
The description says “Music from The Last of us Part II (2019)” followed by details of the specific song and where it came from. For example the “Crooked Still – Ecstasy (Instrumental Edit) | The Last of Us Part II” video’s descriptions notes it is from the gameplay reveal trailer. The reveal trailer is linked in that video and the “Little Sadie” video. Each video has that “(2019)” date in the description. Reddit user BostonMIT noticed the detail.
Besides a new version of the theme song by composer Gustavo Santaolalla, no new information regarding The Last of Us Part 2 came from this year’s Outbreak Day. Naughty Dog revealed a lengthy gameplay demo at E3 2018, but opted against announcing a release date. The game was revealed — albeit in an early state — as PSX 2016. A cryptic, violent trailer was released during Paris Games Week 2017. That trailer focused on an all new group of characters, some of whom we still don’t know anything about.
Sony has not formally announced a The Last of Us 2’s release date. It is also possible that whoever at PlayStation uploaded these did so with incorrect information, and the date is meaningless. Games often use placeholder years when the date is not known.
Naughty Dog’s most recent release was 2017’s Uncharted: The Lost Legacy a standalone expansion focused on Chloe Frazer and Nadine Ross. The Lost Legacy was revealed alongside The Last of Us 2 at PSX 2016, and grew out of the single-player DLC planned for Uncharted 4.
Neil Druckmann is directing The Last of Us 2 with help from Anthony Newman and Kurt Margenau. Margenau was a game director on The Lost Legacy, while Newman was a lead designer on Uncharted 4. While serving as game director, Druckmann was promoted to vice president of Naughty Dog in March 2018. Druckmann and Bruce Straley co-directed 2013’s The Last of Us and 2016’s Uncharted 4 before Straley left the company.The 2019 The Last of Us Part 2 release date is speculation until confirmation from Sony.
