With the brief statement from Sony stating that it "has made the difficult decision to delay the launch of The Last of Us Part II and Marvel's Iron Man VR until further notice". Adding that the current global crisis is preventing it from providing the "launch experience our players deserve".

Developer Naughty Dog released the following statement relating to the indefinite delay.

A message from us about the delay of The Last of Us Part II: pic.twitter.com/aGsSRfmJ8a

— Naughty Dog (@Naughty_Dog) April 2, 2020

“The good news is, we’re nearly done with development of The Last of Us Part II,” Naughty Dog states. "However, even with us finishing the game, we were faced with the reality that due to logistics beyond our control, we couldn’t launch The Last of Us Part II to our satisfaction. We want to make sure everyone gets to play The Last of Us Part II around the same time, ensuring that we’re doing everything possible to preserve the best experience for everyone. This meant delaying the game until such a time where we can solve these logistic issues.”

“We were bummed about this decision but ultimately understood it's what's best and fair to all of our players," Naughty Dog continues. "We’re hoping that this won’t be a long delay and we’ll update you as soon as we have new information to share.”

No doubt this news will come as a shock to many who were expecting that The Last of Us Part II would be finished and released in time for its planned May 29 release date. But, these are strange times and the statement above explains that the delay has very little to do with the state of the game, development is wrapping up - instead it comes down to logistics. As one of the most anticipated releases for the PlayStation 4 console, it sounds Sony doesn't want to release the game in the current social and economic climate.

The only question now is, how long will the delay be?