Due to our old pal Corona, everyones most anticipated game is delayed till...well, we dont know

Kotaku article here: https://kotaku.com/the-last-of-us-ii-delayed-indefinitely-1842646231

I hope everybody is having a good time with Animal Crossing, Doom, and Resident Evil 3, because who the hell knows which console games will come out as scheduled over the next few months.

The reasons from Sony seem vague, and more to do with "they don't want the lost revenue of no one buying retail copies", since they're delaying both Last of Us II (which granted, is kind of a bummer game given current circumstances) but also Iron Man VR.

Don't forget FF VII remake, which is already out.

But yeah, I think that we're going to see a lot of delays including the new consoles. Not only is there no physical retail right now but everyone's going to be broke for a while even after the disease is under control. I'm also afraid we're going to see a bunch of developer bankruptcies. Obviously not the huge boys like Sony or Microsoft or Nintendo or Activision, but some of the smaller companies that were always kind of shaky are going to go under, consolidating the industry even further.

I don't really care about the game delays because I have a massive backlog and I'd be happy just playing those games for the next 5 years+ (not that it will be that long) but I'm pretty worried about all the developers. Naughty Dog will be fine as a company but we see lots of closures even during good times and these are not good times.

That's disappointing. I figured we were close enough to launch at this point that it would be fine.

I mean these are pretty scary times so sure.. but at the same time it's pretty comical how many times this game has gotten delayed already and now it is on indefinite hold. Either way not sure many people are down for a very bleak story about a world where a virus is has destroyed society.

Unexpected, but considering how much else is out this year it's fine. I imagine many people will likely only play it through it once, so having that experience polished and fully complete is important.

@doctordonkey: IF the article is to be believed the game is pretty much done, they just don't want to take the financial hit on physical sales at the moment considering in most countries stores that typically carry video games are closed.

Real shame but not super unexpected. Man, it's been an entire console generation since LOU came out! That's insane to think about.

I was honestly a little excited about this. I'm a major FOMO guy when it comes to new releases I'm really interested in, so I know I would've bought it whether it was prudent to do so or not. I'm pretty damn sure I'll love Last of Us 2 since Naughty Dog hasn't made a bad game IMO since...I've been alive? But I'm happy to wait for it and know I've got $70 lying around for something else, like food.

Very unfortunate, especially for a game that's already been pushed back as much as Last of Us Part 2, but it's probably the first of many delays like this that we're going to see.

I'm sure the impact to games isn't going to be as severe as other forms of entertainment (music, movies, sports, etc.) due to it being possible in most cases to continue production with people working from home (possibly with hits to productivity in some cases) and digital releases, but games are definitely not going to be unscathed.

🤔 Ghost of Tsushima next?

bummer for me (i bought a ps4 expressly to play TLoU2) but i totally get it.

hoping we see it sooner than later! and that all the naughty dog devs are healthy and safe!

That fucking sucks for the developers. It sounds like "the game is delayed" at Naughty Dog is synonymous with "crunch is being extended" and they have an increasingly shitty studio culture there. Source.

Note the crunch-apologist manager who takes no responsibility for the over-work because "the artists feel privileged to work here". Wanker.

What percentage of game sales is still physical? Not just physical, but people actually walking into a store and buying it?

Clearly higher than I thought.

@sweep: Yeah, not gonna lie, that was my first thought too. It's pretty difficult to play any significant chunk of AAA games and not wind up supporting crunch culture knowingly or unknowingly, but the specific attitude Naughty Dog's been putting out there about it just sucks total shit. At least some of the other big developers pretend to be contrite when called out...the "it's a privilege to work here" tactic is so transparently gross.

(Also TLOU should never have gotten a sequel and everything I've seen of 2 just looks like misery porn for the sake of misery porn and I want nothing to do with that)

I'm kind of always glad for a delay, since it reduces the risk of a game coming it way too hot. While the new releases calendar is starting to look a bit thin, I've still not played the DLC for my favorite games of last year and there's a megaton of backlog on Game Pass to go through.

I would have thought that physical sales would be a very small part of Naughty Dogs income, but apparently not. A delay like this is a pretty serious thing, so they must really value getting it out to stores on the same day.

Part of me wonders if this is a little bit of a cover-story and the real reason is the subject matter of the game. Maybe they just don't want to release a super-depressing post-apocalyptic game that shows a world ravaged by an infectious agent in times like this.

I agree that TLOU probably didn't need a sequel, and I have the same impression of the pre-release stuff they've shown, but I have enough faith in this creative team that I'm still very eager to play it. They know what they're doing .

@gkhan: Around 60% of game sales are still physical on console, and for single player even higher and Sony's strongest markets EU/Asia also skew more towards physical than the US.

And with everyone throttling download speeds digital might not even be an option at all for many.

With everybody stuck inside its the best time to release, Doom Eternal & Animal Crossing had their best opening ever and Steam's concurrent users are going through the roof. Plague inc has been topping the charts even in China without any media drama I doubt its a PR thing.

Its also not just getting phsical boxes onto shelves being the issue, it's everything else associated with it like a poster camapign, marketing across billboards, public transport and in stores.

A lack of manpower available to physically promote your game and the lack of footfall on the high street to actually see your game, most people don't follow gaming at all not even IGN.

nah- while i agree that the original completely stands on its own, they've proven from a writing and acting perspective they can thoughtfully develop and portray complex characters.

i certainly don't care about the main plot of the first game (in other words, the state of the world)- that book is closed for me. but are there still stories and facets to the characters we haven't seen? IMHO abso-fuckin-lutely.

I guess rest of the year's going to get crowded...wonder how that goes, if they'll try and stick to new console launches too...what a huge mess.

I'm obviously looking forward to playing this, but anything getting delayed under the current circumstances is perfectly understandable. Guess I'll at least have plenty of time to work it through FF7 Remake!

The current shit-storm hasn't dampened my appetite for more misery so it's disappointing but I've got a lot of stuff to play already so I'll just look forward to playing it further down the line.

I loved the first game and what I've seen of this one seems interesting enough to have me excited for it.

Hah! And here I am playing through the first game (remastered on PS4 Pro) for the first time ever in anticipation of this release. Bummer but not entirely surprising. I have an acquaintance I went to college with who works at Naughty Dog. Hope he isn't experiencing any at-home crunch at this time!

Yeah. Hate the whole internet's take that this game's advertisement was harsh and not as happy go lucky as the game I want so its misery porn. Is it that necessary to get another game that fits the mold of most AAA, appeals to everyone, makes sure no one is offended stuff. Sometimes it's useful to have dark material cause you get strong emotional breakthroughs and honestly stuff you don't see often. If the devs think they have a story to tell and from descriptions, this game is not the last sequel, then let the devs do their thing. People who cringe to realistic violence can play doom, animal crossing or the other 95% of industry games that cater to them and clean fun of killing make-believe aliens or having relaxing experiences.

I'm glad a big dev is willing to take the risk given they know how many people will not buy the game and write thousands of articles on "HOW LAST OF US 2 doesn't do female characters right, or how it is violence porn, how its violence hampers the story, etc." It all comes down to your feelings but let the devs push their take as strong as they prefer. Goodness knows small budget studios couldn't squeeze out this type of storytelling given how realism makes the violence and subject matter deliver stronger.

I think it's more than just logistics, releasing a extremely dark, depressing zombie apocalypse game right now seems like a bad move.

Was very much looking forward to this, bummer. I hope they don't change the tone of the game, and are able to tell whatever story they want.