Earlier this year, key story details leaked from The Last of Us Part 2. While the leakers were eventually identified by Sony, this led to the widespread sharing of important story moments weeks before the game released. Now that The Last of Us Part 2 has been released, creative director Neil Druckmann has shared his thoughts from when the leaked material began circulating as a part of a wider interview on Kinda Funny.
If you haven’t played the game and you want to go in unspoiled, it’s important that you stop reading right here.
You want to keep reading? Okay, here you go.
“The thing that was really hard was when the leaks happened and you see that scene came out,” Druckmann explained, speaking on Joel’s death via Abby. “The love that people have for this character, and that’s all they have is that, and then play as the person that killed them. And they lose their shit. Understandably. Then we just have to sit there for two months being like, ‘There’s more to it, but we can’t say anything right now’. They just live with that frustration and anger. That was hard. That was really fucking hard.”
People not experiencing it as part of the story was one thing, which Druckmann already described as “one of the worst days of my life” but then harassment began, with death threats and anti-Semitic commentary being sent to the studio through social media. Druckmann states “I knew people would get upset at a character they love dying. I never thought it would reach this kind of hate? I don’t know how to describe it, even. Frustration?”
“At some point, it took a few days, you realise the worst happened,” he continues. “The worst way this game could be presented happened – our worst fear. Because we did so much to try to protect this story.”
The Last of Us Part 2 is sure to continue dividing opinions and causing a great deal of discussion in the weeks and months to come.
