As expected, The Last of Us will no longer be released in May. Following yesterday's report that Best Buy and other major video game retailers had changed the date of The Last of Us' launch, Naughty Dog today confirmed the game's delay. It will now be available on June 14, 2013.
Naughty Dog Creative Director Neil Druckmann took to the PlayStation Blog to calm any worries one might have over the delay.
"As we entered the final phase of development for The Last of Us, we came to realize just how massive Joel and Ellie’s journey is," he explained. "But instead of cutting corners or compromising our vision, we came to the tough decision that the game deserved a few extra weeks to ensure every detail of The Last of Us was up to Naughty Dog’s internal high standards."
"As a team we pride ourselves on setting a very high quality bar for every aspect of our games – gameplay, story, art, design, technology and more. We want to make sure The Last of Us raises that bar even further – for ourselves, and most importantly, for you, our fans," he concluded.
Earlier this month, I attended a Sony press event where I went hands-on with The Last of Us, though there was no mention of a delay. The game seemed pretty polished to me, but given that The Last of Us "squeezes every drop of power" from the PS3, Naughty Dog could be working to better optimize the game.
Of course, there's always a chance the delay could be related to the PlayStation 4. Maybe we'll see The Last of Us as a PS4 launch title? Just some food for thought…
