Fans of The Last of Us 2 are bitterly divided at the moment about Naughty Dog's crunch culture and the way the studio treats its employees, and that divide was deepened following a massive leak which revealed story and gameplay elements of the upcoming game. Now, Naughty Dog has provided an official response to the leak.
The leak in question revealed numerous key story points of The Last of Us 2 and included screenshots and videos as well as a textual summary of the game's story. Many are upset for various reasons, as some are mad that the game was spoiled while others are unhappy with the direction the leak purports the story to be taking.
None of those spoilers will be mentioned herein, so those wishing to play the game with fresh eyes after The Last of Us 2's June release date have nothing to fear. Still, there are many that have already seen the leaks and may have their experience lessened because of it.
Naughty Dog's tweet, labeled a message from the studio, starts off by appealing to readers with sympathy. The message is short, simply saying that the developer is disappointed that the pre-release footage was leaked from development. The tweet continues to call on players to do their best to avoid spoilers and to not spread spoilers to others that were fortunate enough not to see the leak. Finally, a glimmer of hope is contained at the end, as Naughty Dog claims that The Last of Us 2 will be available soon, and asks players to disregard the leaks and trust that the final experience will be worth the wait.
The response to this seemingly sincere tweet is surprisingly mixed, as though there are many that sympathize with the studio's plight, just as many defend the actions of the leaker. Though nothing is confirmed, the running theory in the community is that the information was leaked by a developer at the studio, this seems likely given that the footage leaked is pre-release footage. Many users were quick to bring up Naughty Dog's harmful crunch culture and other rumors that developers are working overtime and without proper compensation.
There are many that believe that the gaming industry expects too much from game studios, and that seems to be more and more apparent as time rolls on. The longer Naughty Dog waits to release its new game, the more incidents like this will occur.
The Last of Us 2 releases June 19th, 2020 exclusively for PS4.
