Just last week, the gaming world was rocked by some major spoilers hitting the internet for the upcoming PlayStation exclusive, The Last of Us Part II. Among other things, the leaks seemed to completely spoil the game’s ending, enraging many longtime fans of the zombie franchise.
Many assumed that the leak was put out there by a disgruntled former employee of Naughty Dog. After all, many former Naughty Dog developers have been speaking out against the company and its alleged crunch culture policies as of late.
However, a representative from Sony has addressed that rumor, stating that the leaker was not someone from within the organization.
Apparently, Sony has identified the leakers, but can’t share any more information just yet. It did, however, point out that the leak’s source had nothing to do with anyone affiliated with either Sony or Naughty Dog.
“SIE (Sony Interactive Entertainment) has identified the primary individuals responsible for the unauthorized release of The Last of Us Part II’s assets,” Sony said. “They are not affiliated with Naughty Dog or SIE. We are unable to comment further because the information is subject to an ongoing investigation. We’re looking forward to when The Last of Us Part II will be in your hands and can’t wait for you to enjoy the full experience on June 19.”
While the full details of the leaks won’t be listed here, we can say that it included a level list along with footage that many believed to come from an internal build. That’s why so many people assumed that the leak came from inside the organization.
Recently, controversy sprung up around Naughty Dog when former employees started coming forward to complain about how hard the studio works its developers. They cited an environment of “crunch culture,” where developers are pushed to put in insanely long hours at the risk of their health and safety to ensure that a game comes out on time.
The Last of Us Part II was originally set to release in February, but was pushed back to May. Then, because of the COVID-19 pandemic, the game was pushed back again, though no release date was provided.
In the wake of these leaks, it was revealed by Sony that the game would be coming out on June 19. That’s just a few weeks later than initially believed.
Leaks have become a huge issue in the gaming world as of late. Last year, massive leaks for Final Fantasy VII Remake caused a lot of waves online when hackers were able to access the game’s files by data mining the demo.
