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The Last of Us: Part 2 reportedly delayed weeks after release date announcement

The Last of Us: Part 2 received a new trailer in late September that revealed a February 21, 2020, release date for the PlayStation 4 exclusive. However, it appears Sony may have jumped the gun on this news, as the game has reportedly already been delayed.

According to a new report from Kotaku, The Last of Us: Part 2 has been bumped to an undetermined final date next spring. The reason for the release date change was not revealed, but Naughty Dog has always valued perfection over getting a game out at its originally scheduled time. This was certainly the case with Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End, which effectively had its own development rebooted after a change in leadership at the studio.

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If the game does release in spring, it will be nearly seven years since the launch of the original The Last of Us on PlayStation 3. That game then came to PlayStation 4 the following year, and we fully expect The Last of Us: Part 2 to also include an upgraded version for PlayStation 5. Given the power of Naughty Dog’s engine and the amount of detail on characters’ faces in the game, we can’t wait to see how the next-generation hardware can make it look even better.

The Last of Us Part II – Release Date Reveal Trailer | PS4

Naughty Dog has been relatively secretive regarding The Last of Us: Part 2 thus far, only releasing a handful of trailers and a small amount of gameplay footage. Rather than play as Joel from the original game, you will play as Ellie, who has grown older and more hardened in the continued apocalypse. Joel will make an appearance, however, with much more gray hair, and will aid Ellie in a mission that is still fairly unclear.

The Last of Us: Part 2 will be, funnily enough, one of the last of the PS4’s exclusive games before Sony goes head-first into releasing games on PS5. The other major games still due to release for PS4 include Death Stranding, which will launch on November 8, as well as Ghost of Tsushima. The latter game doesn’t have a release date or even window yet, so it’s entirely possible that it could still come to PS5 instead of PS4.

Gabe Gurwin
Former Digital Trends Contributor
Gabe Gurwin has been playing games since 1997, beginning with the N64 and the Super Nintendo. He began his journalism career…
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The second piece of The Last of Us multiplayer concept art shows two players walking toward a beached yacht.

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While that may come as a disappointment to Naughty Dog fans looking forward to its take on a live-service game set in The Last of Us universe, its cancellation is a necessity for the company. It's a hard decision that will allow the studio to continue doing what it does best rather than giving in to what's trendy.
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Key art for The Last of Us Part II Remastered

Naughty Dog officially announced and released the first trailer for a remaster of 2020's critically acclaimed The Last of Us Part II. The developer was forced to announce The Last of Us Remastered Part II Remastered a bit early after it leaked Friday afternoon. Thankfully, the wait for the remaster won't be long, as it's coming to the PlayStation 5 in two months.

The Last of Us Part II Remastered - Announce Trailer | PS5 Games

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Ellie looking concerned.

A new report revealed that Naughty Dog has ended several contracts it had with developers early, laying off around 25 developers. This had a negative impact on The Last of Us multiplayer game but, more importantly, is chillingly just the latest batch of layoffs in a rough couple of months for the video game industry.
These contracted developers were informed that their contracts were ending prematurely at the end of October and that they'd get no severance afterward, according to the report at Kotaku. Reportedly, most of these layoffs at Naughty Dog, PlayStation's darling studio that employs over 400 developers, come from the quality assurance, art, and production teams. According to Kotaku, Naughty Dog asked its developers to keep quiet about it. That didn't happen, though, with developers telling Kotaku not only about the layoffs but that the multiplayer The Last of Us game "while not completely canceled, is basically on ice at this point."
Concept art for Naughty Dog's Last of Us multiplayer title. Naughty Dog
These layoffs are unfortunate but sadly not uncommon for the game industry. Throughout the last few weeks, studios like Ubisoft, Creative Assembly, Ascendant Studios, and Epic Games have all laid off people. Epic, in particular, cut a whopping 16% of its workforce despite the fact that Fortnite is one of the most popular video games. Then, there are studios like Saints Row's Volition, support studio Puny Human, and Boomerang X's Dang are closing entirely.
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