UPDATE:
Sony has just confirmed The Last of Us 2 delay for May 29, 2020. Director Neil Druckmann himself shared the news with fans in an official statement. The additional months will be used to bring the game up to the standards that the team expects, the so-called “Naughty Dog quality.”
ORIGINAL STORY:
Seeing The Last of Us 2 delayed probably comes as a surprise to most fans, but this is what is bound to happen judging by the latest rumors. Naughty Dog was allegedly unable to stick to its original February 21, 2020 launch schedule and is pushing back the release date for a few months.
This isn’t the first sign that the development of The Last of Us Part 2 wasn’t as smooth as we had hoped for. The scrapping of the multiplayer mode to focus on the single-player campaign was unexpected and caused various reactions, not all of them favorable. Development on a standalone The Last of Us multiplayer game is highly likely, as Naughty Dog wants to expand on the Factions system.
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The rumors that The Last of Us Part 2 is being delayed come from allegedly trustworthy anonymous sources. Speaking with Kotaku, two sources who are believed to be familiar with the events at developer Naughty Dog said that the release is being bumped to spring. This could mean that the highly anticipated game is delayed for somewhere between one month or three, depending on what Naughty Dog has in mind.
When Kotaku approached Sony for clarification, it didn’t get any comment on this rumored delay. However, an official announcement may be dropping as early as this week, surely to confirm that the Uncharted developer needed more time to realize its ambitious vision.
While The Last of Us Part 2 delayed isn’t the kind of news that any fan of the 2013 classic wants to hear, it is probably for the best. Naughty Dog has expressed several times that this is its most ambitious game, with a scope that is vastly superior to the first title. The sequel is described to be 50% bigger, which means that a single playthrough could take nearly 25 hours.
According to Naughty Dog, Joel and especially Ellie are being fleshed out in order to create some of the most nuanced characters in video games, something that we’ll get to see when the game releases… most likely in spring 2020.
