Sony has announced it is offering pre-orders consumers refunds over The Last of Us Part II‘s delay “until further notice.”
The game has been removed from the PlayStation Store, and new pre-orders are not allowed, and those who pre-ordered it during the past weeks and months are receiving their money back.
“The Last of Us Part II and Iron Man VR have been delayed,” a quick note on the official PlayStation Support website states. “All digital pre-order consumers will automatically receive a refund.”
This is an unusual move from Sony, which is not particularly fond of refunds on the PlayStation Store and has a strict policy on the matter.
However, it is also unusual for the company to delay indefinitely one of its (most anticipated) titles, and during these unprecedented times, nothing is surprising.
The move, though, is a quiet confirmation that – despite claims from Naughty Dog’s vice president and director Neil Druckmann – a digital-only release won’t happen anytime soon.
Druckmann has been open about the state of development, sharing that it’s almost complete, and that makes it even more disappointing to delay until further notice.
It’s not something the software house is in control of, as COVID-19 has made it “logistically” challenging for Sony to allow players to have “the launch experience” such a big, triple-A release deserves.
It has also been made clear that a demo won’t be releasing to compensate fans for their patience, as it would take additional time the development team doesn’t have at its disposal right now.