Naughty Dog and Sony recently announced that The Last of Us Part II, which was originally supposed to be released in February before the date was pushed back to May, has been delayed indefinitely. Following the unfortunate news, the highly-anticipated sequel to the 2013 survival/horror game was pulled from the PlayStation Store, and customers who pre-ordered the game digitally began receiving refunds.
Following the removal of the application, Sony said the following regarding The Last of Us Part II (and Iron Man VR) being pulled from the PlayStation Store.
“The Last of Us Part II and Iron Man VR have been delayed.” said the PlayStation support website. “All digital pre-order consumers will automatically receive a refund. Please check your email for more details.”
Since the news broke, people have been asking Naughty Dog’s creative director Neil Druckmann about The Last of Us Part II being a digital-only release, and in response, Druckmann said that ND and Sony are working together to figure out how to get the game to people as soon as possible. So, we’ll see if the game gets released digitally on its scheduled release date of May 29, but given that the application has been pulled from the PlayStation Store, in addition to people receiving refunds for digital pre-orders, a digital-only release doesn’t seem likely.
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After breaking the news about The Last of Us Part II’s indefinite delay, both Naughty Dog and Sony said that the game is nearly finished, and right now, they’re just working out all of its minor bugs. So, if not for the COVID-19 outbreak, the game would be released right on schedule. But, as of right now, the game’s new release date hasn’t even been teased.
There’s still plenty of time between now and May 29, so Naughty Dog and Sony could change their minds, put the game back up on the PlayStation Store, and decide to release the game digitally at the end of next month. Also, if you’re someone who pre-ordered a physical copy, the simple solution would be to give you a voucher code for the digital version, which would allow you to play the game upon its release, and when the COVID-19 situation cools down, they could ship all of the physical items that customers pre-ordered ahead of its release.
For now, though, a digital-only release of The Last of Us Part II doesn’t seem likely, but a lot can change between now and the end of May.
