A flurry of PlayStation 4-related rumors have swirled over the past few days as Sony prepares to share more information regarding the release of Hideo Kojima's Death Stranding. Caught up in the wake of Death Stranding's reveal appears to be new information about another highly anticipated PS4 exclusive, The Last of Us 2. The sequel to Naughty Dog's critically acclaimed near-future "zombie" game has long been speculated to be a 2019 release. A new rumor insinuates that's no longer the plan.

Jason Schreier of Kotaku, well known for his reliable rumor mongering, said today that The Last of Us 2's release date had apparently been bumped to 2020. It'd be silly to describe the 2020 release date for The Last of Us 2 as a delay given the game never had an officially announced release date, but Schreier did characterize the shifting date as an alteration from previous internal plans. At one point The Last of Us 2 was internally planned to release in 2019.

That said, while Sony may have never officially confirmed The Last of Us 2's release window as 2019 many PS4 gamers very much thought it to be an unsaid agreement, so the news of a 2020 release date is bound to disappoint some. After all, The Last of Us 2 was showcased at Sony's PS4 E3 2018 keynote, making even an early 2020 launch near 20 months after the fact. Given the industry's shift towards relatively short announcement-to-launch windows, The Last of Us 2 stands apart.

PS4 owners still have plenty to look forward to in 2019, of course. Days Gone was just recently released and Death Stranding is now expected to have a late-2019 launch. In between will be the MediEvil remake, Shenmue 3 with console exclusivity on PS4, Judgement from the Yakuza dev team, and indie darling Spelunky 2. And early 2020 isn't so much further than its expected late-2019 launch in the first place.

Altogether 2019 and 2020 will go down as odd years for the PS4, given its consistency since the platform launched in 2013. Much can be attributed to the speculated release of the PlayStation 5 console in late 2020, with Sony spreading remaining PS4 exclusives out among the platform's final months. But there seems to be an attitude shift within the company, as well. The decision not to participate in E3 2019 remains confusing to many, in particular. Nevertheless, The Last of Us 2 is all-but-certain to remain highly anticipated whether it remains a 2019 launch or has indeed slipped into early 2020.

The Last of Us 2 is a PS4 exclusive and has no currently announced official release window.