The Last Of Us 2’s Development Enters ‘Closing Out’ Process

Here is some great news for fans of The Last of Us (although maybe not so great news for those hoping for an October release date). In a recent tweet by the Co-Director Anthony Newman, various employment opportunity positions are listed ranging from art and animation to programming. Mr. Newman calls attention to the Melee Animator position, promising that the animations will be pretty “*dope*.” What is most notable about this tweet, however, is that the tweet states that The Last of Us 2′s development process has entered the ‘closing out’ phase.

This may or may not correspond well with another release date leak for The Last of Us 2 that states the game will launch October 2019. While the fact that the closing out process for Naughty Dog has already begun, it is worth considering that the hiring process can take quite some time, and that isn’t accounting for any potential training and the actual work on the game that still needs to be done. That alone might mean that The Last Of Us 2 is looking at an early to mid-2020 release date, but unfortunately, we can only speculate as of now so maybe the October 2019 release date shouldn’t be ruled out entirely.

Regardless, development is clearly very far along so the game will likely be out within the foreseeable future. Although Sony is skipping E3 this year, I highly doubt they won’t release plenty of news around that time, and I would be surprised if a new trailer and even a release date weren’t on the horizon.