Naughty Dog Confirms The Last Of Us Delay

Naughty Dog announced today that The Last of Us has been officially pushed back just over five weeks from its original May 7th release date, and will now launch on June 14, 2013. The announcement confirms yesterday’s report that both Best Buy and Walmart had changed the release date on their websites (both retailers updated the game’s online listing to show a June 18th launch date) for the highly anticipated survival-adventure title. Neil Druckmann, the game’s creative director, broke the disappointing news on the PlayStation Blog, saying in part:

“The Last of Us is an ambitious project… 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. 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.” “The extra wait will be very short and your patience will be rewarded. Update your calendars. You won’t even have to change seasons. The Last of Us will be available June 14th, 2013. Until then, know that we will be working extremely hard to deliver an experience that matches your high expectations.”

Naught Dog did not mention how the delay will effect the timing of The Last of Us‘ demo (which Sony offered early access to as a pre-order incentive for God of War: Ascension), nor did the developer reveal when we can expect to hear new information on the game’s multiplayer mode. We will keep an eye out for any additional details about the confirmed delay for The Last of Us, and update this post as new information becomes available.