Today during State of Play, Sony Interactive Entertainment and Naughty Dog revealed the release date for PS4 exclusive The Last of Us Part II with a new trailer showing off the highly-anticipated PlayStation title in action. More specifically, the pair revealed that sequel to one of the PS3’s greatest games will release on February 21, 2020, which more or less lines up with reports and rumors of the game’s release date/window that have been popping up since the turn of the year.
Development of The Last of Us Part II began in 2014, but didn’t kick into full gear until Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End released in May 2016. In other words, by the time of release, the PS4 exclusive will have been in development for roughly six years, with three of those years being with the full force of Naughty Dog behind it.
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The game’s story is being handled by Halley Gross and Neil Druckmann, the latter of which is also the project’s creative director. Meanwhile, Gustavo Santaolalla has returned to compose and perform the game’s score. As for Bruce Straley, co-creator of the series, he’s currently not working on the project as he left the California-based developer in 2017. It’s unclear how much impact Straley had on the sequel’s creation.
While The Last of Us Part II began development in 2014, it wasn’t announced until the end of 2016 at PlayStation Experience in December. Not long after this, motion capture for the game began, with both Ashley Johnson and Troy Baker returning for their roles as Ellie and Joel, respectively.
Beyond a trailer or two here and there, Sony and Naughty Dog have largely been radio silent on the game. In fact, before today, we hadn’t seen the game since E3 2018. And this luxury is extended to the game simply because of the reputation of the first game, which is widely considered one of the best titles of all-time.
The Last of Us Part II is in development for PS4. At the moment of publishing, there’s been no word of a PS5 port, but you’d assume one is in the pipeline. After all, The Last of Us released at the end of the PS3 generation and was then quickly ported to PS4.
For more news, media, and information on the game, be sure to peep all of our past and latest coverage of the title by clicking right here. And, as always, feel free to leave a comment letting us know what think or, alternatively, hit me up on Twitter @Tyler_Fischer_ and let me know over there. Will you be picking up The Last of Us Part II when it releases next year?
