The drama of Naughty Dog continues. As many of you may already know, The Last of Us 2 was officially delayed in the midst of the pandemic. The reasoning behind the delay was that they wouldn’t be able to give it the launch they truly deserved. And, you know what? It was a good call in my eyes. Not only would they be able to make sure there would be sufficient physical copies for gamers, but I don’t think The Last of Us 2 is a story many of us want to play, given our current situation.

The Delay

Of course, at the time of the delay, I also pointed to one other silver lining. Naughty Dog had received flack in the past for its crunch culture. This meant that employees had to work long hours in order to meet deadlines. This included long days and weekends at the expense of employees’ health and personal lives. 

With this delay, the work on the tail end didn’t necessarily need to be rushed to hit the game’s release date. And now, there’s more drama surrounding The Last of Us 2. 

The Leaked Footage

Gameplay footage for the new blockbuster game was recently published online by an anonymous Naughty Dog employee. And this wasn’t just minor stuff. It featured plenty of spoiler-filled details that we won’t discuss here. The video was quickly taken down by Sony, but if you are curious, a Resetera thread has all the info you’d want to read. 

We don’t know who leaked the video or why, but given the history of the developer, it’s hard not to connect the dots. As stated above, the crunch culture at the company has been a well-known fact for some time. The games they put out are all kinds of awesome, but, as a Naughty Dog developer told Kotaku in March, it comes “at a huge cost to the people.”

RELATED – Why The Last Of Us Part II Getting Delayed Is A GREAT Thing

To Naughty Dog’s credit, they do seem to at least try to take care of their employees.

“They do try to take care of you, providing food, encouragement to go take breaks,” one former developer told the outlet. “But for the most part, the implication is: ‘Get the job done at all costs.’”

I am definitely partaking in uncouth speculation here, but it’s hard to read those reports and not think they’re connected to the leaked game. I’m not alone on this. There is a ton of speculation across Twitter that that’s exactly what happened. That Naughty Dog mistreated their employees and are now paying for it. 

Fan Complaints

That’s not even to mention the complaints have over the game’s plot. Sure, they may have only read a blog post, but many are now comparing this sequel to the last season of Game of Thrones. 

“[The Last of Us 2] leaks pretty much confirmed and holy s**t did they f**k this game up,” one fan wrote on Twitter. “Like the whole plot is edgy fanfic levels of terrible. I adored the first one, but this is exactly why I don’t buy pre-orders, ever. I was so excited for this for YEARS. Naughty Dog f**ken blows, dude.”

Now, is this an okay reaction to all this? Probably not. For all we know, the scenes will play out just fine. But gamers are notorious haters. I’m not saying you’re not allowed to dislike anything, but it is hard to take some hate seriously when gamers complain about everything. I guess we’ll just have to wait and see when the game eventually comes out — whenever that is.

What do you think of this whole Last of Us 2 controversy? Let us know your thoughts down below!

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SOURCE: Resetera, Kotaku, Twitter