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[UPDATE] 'The Last of Us Part II' leaks hint to major spoilers
Naughty Dog's highly anticipated The Last of Us Part II has been delayed until further notice due to logistics issues resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic. The good news is development is nearly done but the bad news is we don't know when the game will actually get released. However, this has not deterred leakers from spoiling the game before it is even made publicly available.
Over the weekend, several YouTube videos were uploaded claiming to contain major spoilers of the game. Despite the original videos being taken down, others are popping up and will likely continue doing so for the foreseeable future in some form or another (this video is working at the time of writing). The leaks appear to come from internal builds dating from February/March of this year. They reveal Ellie's and Joel's roles in the game, its overall plot with a level list and there's what appears to be a divisive ending that has some questioning whether they will buy the game.
Naughty Dog has not yet responded to those leaks, but they seem to be credible to some extent, given the high fidelity and recognizable voices within those leaks.
Did you check out the leaks? What do you think? If not, will you wait for a proper release before indulging into the game?
[UPDATE 1]
Naughty Dog just shared a statement on Twitter, confirming the authenticity of the leaks, sharing their disappointment and asking those who have seen the leaks to not spoil it for others.
A message from the studio: pic.twitter.com/f0TzIZXUIB
— Naughty Dog (@Naughty_Dog) April 27, 2020
[UPDATE 2]
In a statement to GamesIndustry.biz, Sony confirmed today, May 1st, that they identified those responsible for the leaks and that the matter is still under investigation. They further stated that the leakers "were not affiliated with Sony Interactive Entertainment or Naughty Dog", despite rumors claiming otherwise.
[UPDATE 3]
It seems that those responsible for the leaks were hackers who took advantage of a vulnerability in a security patch from Naughty Dog's previous games to access the company's servers. This was claimed by a Twitter user who was in contact with someone who is "a direct source of this compromise" but not the actual leaker, as it seems another party with knowledge of the exploit, possibly from the original hackers, proceeded with the leaks. This claim was corroborated separately by Kotaku and former Kotaku employee Jason Schreier. You can read the full sequence of events as claimed by the Twitter user from their thread.
SOURCE, UPDATE 1, UPDATE 2, UPDATE 3
Last edited by Prans,
, Reason: Added new info about vulnerability found by hackers
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