Looks like
Frozpot nailed it (I erased a few minor spoiler details...be warned if you click on the link!):
Plenty of spoiler ridden footage was leaked online by alleged disgruntled Naughty Dog employee.The Last of Us 2 leaked gameplay footage was supposedly
www.sausageroll.com.au
The Last of Us 2
gameplay leak came from dev that hates its divisiveness
Erina RoseApril 27, 2020
Plenty of spoiler ridden footage was leaked online by alleged disgruntled Naughty Dog employee.The Last of Us 2 leaked gameplay footage was supposedly released because they hate the political bias in the game.
Earlier this year Sony DMCA’d a post that alleged to contain the game’s entire plot and, if it was a legitimate leak, it proved to be extremely divisive with some of its far left leaning plot elements.
Troy Baker, the voice actor for Joel in
The Last of Us series, later confirmed that the game was super polarising and it could not be thoroughly enjoyed with a closed mind.
“I want people to go in open-minded to this story, and allow Joel and Ellie to tell their story — not the story that people think that they want to be told… If people go in open-minded to this thing, I think they will have a completely different experience than if they go in close-minded,” Troy Baker told
Fandom.
People took the leak with a grain of salt since, at that point, it was nothing more than hearsay. However, the recent
The Last of Us Part 2 gameplay leak has pretty much confirmed some the original source’s claims which now makes us believe the
The Last of Us Part 2 plot leak was, in fact, legitimate.
An anonymous source linked to Nauhgty Dog Inc. reached out to us with the following message regarding
The Last of Us 2 gameplay footage leak:
“I don’t doubt, even for a moment, that this leak came from the studio. The
Last of Us Part 2 is very divisive and, as you can imagine, some of the team aren’t really thrilled to be working on the game.”
The source goes on to talk about how stale the work environment has been at Naughty Dog and how so many people have had to bite their tongues because ‘cancel culture’ is very much alive inside of the studio.
“Many people would agree with me that this has been one of the worst projects they’ve ever had to work on, and that’s not just because some people disagree with the plot. Even though some of the team members are Christians and don’t necessarily agree with the game’s ‘message’, they are also professionals and can put their personal politics aside to get the job done. What really sucks about all of this is the working environment.”
“The team is very much divided on the game, and even voicing your concerns on its story will upset certain individuals; it usually results in said person being called closed-minded or even phobic, or some such nonsense. Some people literally have to bite their tongues or fear losing their jobs, even careers, to an outrage mob.”
Our source also alleged that the high turnover in staff is because of the reasons mentioned above. “What’s really sad is that nobody is allowed to talk about any of this. Many employees have left Naughty Dog because in-house politics and they are under a strict NDA and absolutely cannot discuss the studio’s ‘productions practices’ secrets. Oops!”
Naughty Dog Inc., has a turnover rate of 70% which skyrocketed around the time
The Last of Us Part II went into production. Our source’s claims have been corroborated by a former Naughty Dog animator, Jonathon Cooper, who left them in early October last year.
Jonathon Cooper alleged that Neil Druckmann would force employees to sign a
very strict NDA upon leaving Naughty Dog or he’d withhold their final paycheck.
A source added: “It was primarily the senior team that left Naughty Dog and to assume that it’s because of ‘long working hours’ is laughable. Anybody that has ever worked in game development knows that this is crock of s***. Since I can remember, development has always been like this; get to work, chug coffee and don’t leave until you’ve completed the task that you’ve been assigned for the day. It’s a part of the fun. It’s a part of the lifestyle. What’s not fun is working in a toxic environment.”
If you don’t mind politically divisive — and seemingly very linear — games then we strongly recommend that you do your best to avoid any kind of spoilers, especially the
The Last of Us Part II gameplay footage leak. If you don’t know what’s coming, you will definitely be shocked.
