The Last Of Us Part II Officially Delayed By Naughty Dog
After months of relative silence, Naughty Dog’s story-driven shooter The Last Of Us Part II was finally given a release date for early next year, the occasion providing a spiffy trailer and all kinds of interesting gameplay tidbits shortly thereafter. By the looks of things, all seemed extremely clear on the way to February 2020, but as tends to happen in game development, the much-anticipated sequel has now been officially delayed.
Divulged by director Neil Druckmann over on the PlayStation Blog, the new release date of May 29th, 2020 was revealed, as was the studio’s reasoning of why a delay was necessary in the first place. “I know,” he said. “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. You can feel the energy among the team members. After working on something for so many years, it’s invigorating to get a glimpse of validation for all the hard work.”
“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 would call Naughty Dog quality,” Druckmann explained. “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.”
While we’re relieved that we won’t have to compromise our vision, we’re disappointed that we weren’t able to avoid this exact situation. We wish we could’ve foreseen the amount of polish we needed, but the size and scope of this game got the better of us. We hate disappointing our fans and for that we’re sorry.”
Druckmann closed his statement assuring fans of Naughty Dog’s dedication to quality and by thanking fans for their continued support for TLOU. “We hope you understand that this additional time ensures that The Last of Us Part II lives up to our collective ambition as well as our commitment to the highest level of quality,” he said. “We know the extra few months will add to what may already be an excruciating wait for all of us. We are grateful for your patience and continued support. Come next May, you will finally rejoin Ellie in The Last of Us Part II.”
The Last of Us Part II will now hit PlayStation 4 on May 29th, 2020.
What do you think? Are you bummed that The Last of Us sequel isn’t ready for February 2020 after all, or are you glad the game will be the best it can possibly be by launch? Let us know in the comments below and be sure to follow Don’t Feed the Gamers on Twitter and Facebook to be informed of the latest gaming and entertainment news 24 hours a day! For more headlines recently featured on DFTG, check out these next few news stories:
Eric Hall2712 Posts
Phone-browsing Wikipedia in one hand and clutching his trusty controller in the other, the legendary Eric Hall spreads his wealth of knowledge as a writer for Don't Feed the Gamers. Be sure to catch his biweekly "Throwback Thursday" segment for a nostalgic look at trivia from the past.
