'The Last of Us 2' Release Date: Supposed Leak Confirms 2019 Launch
A retailer might've leaked an October release date.
The sequel to Naughty Dog’s groundbreaking 2013 post-apocalyptic adventure, The Last of Us, might be released sooner than anyone else guessed. If new leaks turn out to be true, then The Last of Us: Part II might be out before the end of this year.
On February 28, video game blog The Loot Gaming noticed that Peruvian video game retailer LawGamers had shared a promotional image advertising for The Last of Us: Part II pre-orders. The bottom-left corner of the digital sales poster reads “LANZAMIENTO: OCTUBRE 2019” which translates directly to “Launching: October 2019.”
It’s tough to gauge whether or not this is accurate when Naughty Dog and Sony have not officially announced anything about the game, but the image itself looks like the same kind of promotional image any retailer might mock up to bring in pre-orders for a game. However, there’s no new cover art for the game featured here, which could be evidence that this is a fabricated mockup.
"Lanzamiento" is the Spanish word for "launching" and Octubre is the Spanish word for "October."
The fact that Sony is skipping E3 2019 entirely could also put this news in contention. Traditionally, a publisher like Sony would want to devote their time at E3 to promote new game releases, and because The Last of Us: Part II is going to be one of Sony’s biggest releases in years, it would make this summer’s E3 the worst one to skip.
Sony said in an official press release that the company was hoping to “look for inventive opportunities to engage the community” rather than dumping a ton of time, money, and production value into promoting their upcoming slate at gaming’s biggest conference.
The Last of Us: Part II was first announced and revealed at December 2016 PlayStation Experience (with the above video), and Sony has promoted it at just about every major gaming event since.
On some level, a game this high-profile doesn’t really need any promotion, and Sony must know that. Similar to Avengers: Endgame in the film industry and Game of Thrones Season 8 on TV, The Last of Us: Part II already has the attention of gamers everywhere. There’s no point in over-promoting it because everyone is going to play it anyway, right?
If The Last of Us: Part II isn’t released in October 2019, then it’ll probably ship sometime before Christmas. Worst case scenario would hopefully be very early 2020. But October feels like the perfect time to release a survival-horror video game set decades after the apocalypse, if only to lightly capitalize on Halloween fervor while maintaining a spot as the most gifted game this upcoming holiday season.
The Last of Us: Part II might be released in October 2019.
Rewatch the awesome E3 2018 trailer and gameplay demo right here.
