Last Of Us 2 Dev Looking To "Close Out" Development

It looks like The Last of Us: Part II might be almost finished. Co-game director Anthony Newman said on Twitter that developer Naughty Dog is looking to hire people to help “close out” the long-awaited PlayStation 4 game. That wording suggests that development might be nearing an end.

That being said, the “close out” period for The Last of Us: Part II might not necessarily happen quickly. Still, the fact that the game’s co-director is using that terminology suggests the title is indeed at least entering the final phase of development.

It’s also worth mentioning that Newman never even mentions The Last of Us: Part II in his tweet, though his reference to closing out a project is no doubt related to that title. Naughty Dog has no other announced projects in the works.

Naughty Dog vice president Neil Druckmann said back in April that Troy Baker and Ashley Johnson completed their shoots for Joel and Ellie, respectively. He said The Last of Us: Part II contains the “most ambitious cinematic shoot we’ve ever done.”

No release date, or even a release window, has been announced yet for The Last of Us: Part II. The parody website The Onion recently posted a silly story that said the game would launch in 2019, but Naughty Dog responded by saying it would share more information when it’s ready. For more on the much-awaited PS4 game, check out everything we know about The Last of Us: Part II.

Ordinarily, this would be an exciting time of year for PlayStation fans eager to learn more about what’s coming next. However, Sony is not attending E3 2019 in June, so if the company has any news to announced about The Last of Us: Part II or any other projects, it will come elsewhere.

The Last of Us: Part II is coming to PS4, but the PS5 will be backwards compatible with PS4 games, so Naughty Dog’s title will play on the new system as well.

In other news, one of The Last of Us: Part II’s designers has joined the new Xbox studio, The Initiative.