Back in 2020, ahead of the much anticipated launch of Naughty Dog’s The Last of Us Part II, the entirety of the game’s major plot points were released online, marking one of the single biggest leaks for a game in the industry’s history. Though the team of course addressed these leaks at the time, studio head and TLOU Part II’s writer and creative director Neil Druckmann has now offered a more candid response.

As part of the recently released documentary on the development of The Last of Us Part II, Neil Druckmann of course featured heavily to discuss all aspects of the game’s development. Speaking on the now infamous leaks which undoubtedly affected the Part II’s reception, Druckmann said (as transcribed by ResetEra user ‘Toriko’):

“It was a traumatic experience for myself and many people. The kind of hate we got because of those leaks will stay with me forever. I can't even describe how angry I was. What damage this person did to us. I want them punished in every sort of way. I wanted to be this villain.”

He continued, ‘This person ended up being in their 20s. They lived with their parents and is a fan. And then when we delayed the game indefinitely this is what they said – “I wanted to force Naughty Dog to release the game. I thought if I put all the videos, eventually they will have to put out the game.”’

Fortunately, it seems as though Druckmann and the team have forgiven the leaker, with him concluding by stating that “releasing was never an option for us. I remember sitting there, sitting in my anger, tears flowing down and thought okay… If anybody should take the lessons from Part 2, It should probably be us. Just let it go.”

Plot leaks aren’t fun at the best of times, and this situation with TLOU Part II was far from fun. That said, it is good to see that Neil Druckmann and the team have been able to move past this event. Hopefully Naughty Dog’s future titles do not suffer from a similar situation.

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KitGuru says: What did you think of the leaks? Did you manage to avoid them? If not, how did it affect your opinion of the game? Let us know down below.

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