Naughty Dog has been cagey about the release date for The Last of Us, which should have been our first indication the game’s probably not coming out this year. Now, we definitely know that’s true.

The studio was part of Jimmy Fallon’s now-annual video game week, and last night included a brief demo of The Last of Us, one of E3’s most talked about games.

At the end of the segment, which played out like a truncated version of the playthrough at Sony's press conference (sans shotgun blast to the face this time), Fallon asked game director Bruce Straley and creative director Neil Druckmann when we’ll finally get to play The Last of Us. Their answer? 2013.

I’d say it’s pretty likely The Last of Us avoids the increasingly crowded February 2013, but with God of War: Ascension already scheduled for March 12, it's unclear where The Last of Us fits. Maybe late spring?

Naughty Dog has been cagey about the release date for The Last of Us, which should have been our first indication the game’s probably not coming out this year. Now, we definitely know that’s true.

The studio was part of Jimmy Fallon’s now-annual video game week, and last night included a brief demo of The Last of Us, one of E3’s most talked about games.

At the end of the segment, which played out like a truncated version of the playthrough at Sony's press conference (sans shotgun blast to the face this time), Fallon asked game director Bruce Straley and creative director Neil Druckmann when we’ll finally get to play The Last of Us. Their answer? 2013.

I’d say it’s pretty likely The Last of Us avoids the increasingly crowded February 2013, but with God of War: Ascension already scheduled for March 12, it's unclear where The Last of Us fits. Maybe late spring?

FUCK!!!

EDIT: Well at least I'll have Dishonored to play.

Starting to fear for Q4 this year. There seems to be one of two big hitters hidden in there but I am placing my bets on some games that may not even be good.

Bummer, looking forward to it. They have time to add more awesomeness.

I really wasn't expecting it this year anyway. Then again, next year is getting very crowded..

"Now, we definitely KNOW that's true."

Oh Patrick. :)

Whatever I mean the extra time can be used to polish the game up some.

Damn.

Really could use a sweet PS3 title right now

They've been dancing around the question enough that we pretty much knew this, right?

As stoked as I am for this game, there's more than enough titles to suck the money out of my wallet this year, so I'm happy to wait.

OH FUCK ME.

Fall 2013

Ha ha ha...

Not sure when they can release this in 2013, i mean the spring is packed with great games already.

So what the hell IS coming out for holiday?

Black Ops 2 and Halo 4 (you can't see it, but I'm making a dismissive jerking off motion), Borderlands 2, and Dishonored. Is that it?

And the WiiU, I guess. But who feels the need to position around that right now?

Well, shit. :(

Well, great!

What does Sony have for this year? Sly Cooper & Sony Smash Bros.? Interesting that the last (hopefully) great PS3 exclusives will release in the shadow of approaching new hardware.

I'll echo everyone's fear of Holiday 2012. Looks like slim pickings compared to most Holiday blocks of years past.

Guess we'll all save our gaming-time for February 2013...because shit is going to be packed!

@MjHealy said:

Starting to fear for Q4 this year. There seems to be one of two big hitters hidden in there but I am placing my bets on some games that may not even be good.

I know it's totally sequel heavy, and not for everyone, but I'm still looking forward to a few games- it's not completely empty:

• Assassin's Creed III (Oct. 30, 2012)
• Borderlands 2 (Sept. 18, 2012)
• Darksiders II (Aug. 14, 2012)
• Far Cry 3 (Sept. 4, 2012)
• Halo 4 (Nov. 6, 2012)
• Hitman Absolution (Nov. 20, 2012)
• Persona 4 Arena (Aug. 7, 2012)
• Resident Evil 6 (Oct. 2, 2012)
• XCOM: Enemy Unknown (Oct. 9, 2012)
• Luigi's Mansion 2 (?)
• Paper Mario: Sticker Star (?)
• Starcraft II: Heart of the Swarm (?)
• World of Warcraft: Mists of Pandaria (?)
• Torchlight 2 (?)

Man 2012 is starting to be a bad year for games

That's fine by me. They can take their dear sweet time with this game. And this holiday still has lots of awesome stuff. Far Cry, Borderlands, Halo, XCOM, Dishonoured, and Hitman.

GASP! That's a shocker!

That hurts but I'm happy to wait if it means more polish. This fall looks okay but we've had a few pretty amazing 4th quarters over the last few years that we've become spoiled when it comes to the 4th quarter launch window. In the grand scheme of things we've still got a lot to look forward to this fall even if The Last of Us isn't going to make that quarter. 
 
But still.....Fuck I want to play that game...

This was reported last week on CVG I think. Or Joystiq. Don't remember which

So which game will actually win GOTY this year? Diablo 3 I guess?

Great, so make it not another fucking shooting game. It has too much potential to be just "shotgun-blast-in-face" game. Have the option, but don't require it.

@Nightriff said:

FUCK!!!

EDIT: Well at least I'll have Dishonored to play.

That game is a 5 hour single player game. Wont last you long.

Me ill be playing Far Cry 3, AC3, Borderland 2, Hitman, Halo 4,Resident Evil 6 and MOST WANTED!

Expected. 

Is this news? I thought they were pretty clear about the game not coming this year.

Could this game be overshadowed by the impending launch of the PS4? I'm wondering if this game may be cancelled for PS3 and become a PS4 launch title.

Didn't the guy from Naughty Dog who was on the E3 podcast say that what we saw at the press conference and the demo was pretty much the only completed part of the game? I'm not surprised at all that we won't see it this year.

Also love Jimmy Fallons coverage of videogames.

This game probably won't come out until holiday 2013. There's no way that it's going to find itself losing money in the shuffle of early 2013 and this definitely isn't a game I can see coming out in the summer. Kind of a bummer.

@Phatmac said:

So which game will actually win GOTY this year? Diablo 3 I guess?

Im going to make a early bet on AC3

Possibly going up against Gears of War Judgment?

Also love Jimmy Fallons coverage of videogames.

Boo!

@TurboMan said:

OH FUCK ME.

Oh well, I would rather they take their time with it and get it just right rather than rush it out for this year.

I never really expected this to be a 2012 title. If Ryan had actually listed off every Tuesday between now and US thanksgiving to Cowboy during the livestream, Cowboy would have been able to safely say no to all of them.

I don't think Sucker Punch have shown anything for next year? The Infamous summer slot seems pretty open.

With this Fall being my last semester of college, I'm not going to have much time for games. Halo, Dishonored and Skyrim DLC will take up most of my time anyway.

There's going to be a little too much competition in the beginning of 2013. Competition is good, but it's going to suck if games that were carefully made and deserve recognition get looked over by a lot of people. I guess that's how the industry is though.

@Bourbon_Warrior said:

@Phatmac said:

So which game will actually win GOTY this year? Diablo 3 I guess?

Im going to make a early bet on AC3

God, I can't wait for AC3. D3 is pretty awesome, but as long as they don't screw it up i think AC3 can win.

Launch Game for.....

And this is how Halo 4 or CoD:BO2 wins GoTY. At least ME3 is a finalist again. So many complaints about the ending people forget how great the actual game was.

Expected. No worries though, I can wait. You take your time, Naughty Dog.

@nasseh said:

Expected. No worries though, I can wait. You take your time, Naughty Dog.

Exactly what I was thinking. Release it when it's done, ND.