Naughty Dog has acknowledged the recent wave of The Last of Us Part 1 leaks, and branded them “disheartening and frustrating” to developers.
A series of leaks have spilled online this week, including gameplay footage, screenshots, plus details of the game’s accessibility features and controller layout.
Today, Naughty Dog has now also debuted its own breakdown of what we can expect to see when the game releases for PlayStation 5, which you can watch below.
“Leaks really suck,” wrote Naughty Dog vice president Arne Meyer. “Esp when we’re right on the cusp of an asset drop. It’s disheartening and frustrating to teams who have put their hearts making awesome things for our fans.”
Leaks really suck. Esp when we’re right on the cusp of an asset drop. It’s disheartening and frustrating to teams who have put their hearts making awesome things for our fans.
That being said, here’s a deep dive into what’s new for The Last of Us Part I, incl some gameplay https://t.co/BxTnroMeWe
— Arne Meyer (@arnemeyer) July 22, 2022
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This was echoed by the studio’s senior editor Samuel Prince.
“[Leaks are] extremely hurtful to the devs who work tirelessly to bring you these wonderful games,” Prince said, highlighting that The Last of Us Part 1’s gameplay mechanics have been completely rebuilt.
“Public-facing assets take a long time to create, revise, approve, localise, clear legal, ESRB, etc. Be kind!”
Since this is getting some attention, I just want to say that leaks suck. They’re extremely hurtful to the devs who work tirelessly to bring you these wonderful games. Public-facing assets take a long time to create, revise, approve, localize, clear legal, ESRB, etc. Be kind!
— Sam (Find me on B***Sky) (@Samuel_Prince) July 21, 2022
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Meanwhile, Druckmann has also had his say, albeit in a less direct fashion. When asked to see the game’s trophy list, co-president Neil Druckmann replied, “I’m sure it’ll leak in a minute.”
While we will never know if we would have received this latest trailer today had it not been for the leaks, trailers such as this clearly take some time to put together and would have been in the offing anyway.