The Last of Us Part 2 director Neil Druckmann has spoken out about how the game was leaked and what he felt during that time. The Last of Us is one of gaming’s most lucrative franchises and fans were yearning for a sequel for years. The first game was released in 2013 to critical acclaim and it was re-released the following year for PS4, exposing even more people to the beloved game. A sequel became in high demand it was officially announced at the end of 2016, four years before it would release and three years after its predecessor. The story was heavily guarded and the game almost got to the finish line with all of those secrets in-tact, but things got messy when Naughty Dog had to shift to work-from-home due to the pandemic. With just a few months until release, numerous cutscenes from the game were leaked online including the scene where Abby kills Joel.
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Without context, it looked like Naughty Dog had lost the plot (literally and figuratively). The Last of Us Part 2‘s biggest moments were online with months to go until release and it gave the game a negative reception in that lead up to launch. People involved with the game were sent death threats, people made horrible comments about the game, and more. In a new documentary about the making of the game, Neil Druckmann noted how he wanted to make sure this leaker was punished in every way possible. It was revealed that the person who did it was someone in their 20s, living with their parents in the Netherlands and not a Naughty Dog employee. They found a backdoor into the company’s servers and obtained this footage.
The leaker was nothing more than a fan of the game and told Naughty Dog that they leaked the footage as they believed it would pressure the studio to release The Last of Us Part 2 after it was indefinitely delayed due to COVID. It didn’t change the fact the game was not finished and not ready for release. Ultimately, Druckmann realized he just needed to let it go and move on despite his frustrations.
