The Last of Us: Part 2: Naughty Dog looking at "different options to get the game out as soon as possible," says a demo isn't feasible
If you are bummed The Last of Us: Part 2 has been delayed again, rest assured, Naughty Dog is just as bummed as you.
Speaking with the PlayStation Blog, Naughty Dog boss Neil Druckmann it's been pretty rough on the team having to delay The Last of Us: Part 2, but the entire studio is working hard from home to get it to fans as quickly as possible.
According to Druckmann, when you work on something so hard, and for so long, and you can't wait to get it in people's hands, putting the game on hold is a "bit rough."
"Internally we know we have a great game and we just have to wait a bit longer to get it out there to fans,"" said Druckmann. "I know the fans are disappointed, and believe me when I say this, we are just as disappointed, if not more so, not to be able to get the game out on time.
"A few weeks ago we saw the writing on the wall and even before it was mandated [due to cornonavirus], we started moving to get people to work from home. Everyone at Naughty Dog is now working from home on the game."
Because there is so much "going on in the world right now," while working from home, Druckmann also wants his team to take time to take of themselves and to be with family.
Druckmann went on to reiterate the official statement made earlier this week, by stating the team is working on smashing bugs, and they are "at the one-yard line," as there's only bug-squashing and polishing left to do. The team is taking its time to review each section to make sure the game is "Naughty Dog quality."
"It's there, that's the frustrating part for us. It's like the game is there, and we have to sit on it for a little bit and figure out what's the best way to get it to our fans," he said.
Speaking of getting it to fans, the reason the team at Naughty Dog and Sony have decided against releasing the game digitally on May 29 is that some fans may not have the infrastructure to download it digitally, and the team doesn't want anyone left out.
That said, Druckmann added there hasn't been a final decision on that just yet, as different options to get the game out as soon as possible are being looked into, but it depends on how the situation with the COVID-19 coronavirus plays out.
"There hasn't been a final decision yet, we're just reacting to the different retail chains, whether we can get physical copies to people," he said. "Also the digital infrastructure. This is a worldwide game that people in every country are waiting for and we want to make sure we're fair.
"If we just get it to a small fraction of people, what does it do to the people who don't get it? So, we're looking at all sorts of different options like what's the best way to get it to all of our fans as soon as possible. But that's going to take time for us to ship and get things figured out.
"And also seeing where the world is at, as things are changing day-to-day."
As far as releasing a demo is concerned, like the demo shown to press previously, Druckmann said it's very different when you have a demo that you can release at a press event where people from Naughty Dog can make sure the game is working well, whereas, with a public demo, the team would almost be starting from scratch to build one.
"That's a massive amount of work that we don't want to put our team through. We would rather put our focus on finishing the actual game.
Also, since the press demo is "very outdated now," releasing it to the public wouldn't be indicative of the final game.
If you hit up the link, you can hear Druckmann discuss The Last of Us: Part 2 for yourself on Soundcloud.