Ever since the big reveal of gameplay during Outbreak Day last year, everyone in the video game industry knew when The Last of Us Part II would be coming early February, until it got delayed to May 29. Now, Sony Interactive Entertainment has announced that the game has been delayed indefinitely due to the Coronavirus pandemic. PlayStation tweeted:
Update: SIE has made the difficult decision to delay the launch of The Last of Us Part II and Marvel’s Iron Man VR until further notice. Logistically, the global crisis is preventing us from providing the launch experience our players deserve.
— PlayStation (@PlayStation) April 2, 2020
The gameplay blowout last year showcased a lot of what’s new in the game while giving everyone a small snippet of the story. It showed off several of the new mechanics of the game such as Ellie’s increased mobility, the new stealth system, and new enemies that players will have to go up against. Naughty Dog has released a statement regarding the new delay:
A message from us about the delay of The Last of Us Part II: pic.twitter.com/aGsSRfmJ8a
— Naughty Dog (@Naughty_Dog) April 2, 2020
A developer told Kotaku that the game is nearly done and is ready to go so this new delay wasn’t a case of not having enough or needing more time as it was when the game was first delayed. The developer said that this was a decision made by Sony for logistical and economic reasons. Logistically, things have gotten more complicated for the release of games since the Coronavirus pandemic as outlets such as Amazon have had to prioritize essential items first which means that other packages like physical copies of video games may not get to customers when the game is released. Companies like Square Enix have made adjustments as they have shipped out the highly-anticipated Final Fantasy VII Remake early to make sure everyone in the world has the opportunity to play the game during this trying time.
In addition to the delay of The Last of Us Part II, Marvel’s Iron Man VR was also delayed again. The game was set to come out in February but got delayed to May. Now, it too doesn’t have a new release date.