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Sony has accidentally leaked confidential information regarding the budget for The Last of Us 2 due to a poorly redacted document that they submitted as evidence for the FTC vs. Microsoft hearing.
Based on a report from The Verge, it seems that the tech giants used a mere marker to cover up the important details, which, sadly, wasn’t enough to conceal it from the scanner that was utilized. The court has since removed the revealing document, but not before various community members were able to save and upload it themselves for the public to see.
According to the figures listed in Sony’s document, The Last of Us Part 2 reportedly cost around $220 million while approximately 200 employees worked on the game. Now, even though Naughty Dog’s sequel was received positively by players and professionals alike upon release, the staggeringly high cost that it took to make the game could mean that its sales were nowhere near enough to make up for what was spent.
Unfortunately for Sony, these details for The Last of Us Part 2 weren’t the only items revealed with the document as it also gave spectators a look at the company’s spending on another significant AAA PlayStation title in Horizon Forbidden West. The sequel, which was released in 2022, apparently took five years to make while costing around $212 million with a workforce of approximately 300 employees.
Although the Horizon series has become one of the most popular Sony IP’s, its sales paled in comparison to that of The Last of Us Part 2’s, meaning that the tech company could also have suffered losses for this particular entry. But this is still merely speculation for the time being since the profitability for these two games haven’t actually been confirmed by PlayStation themselves.
Needless to say, these key details being revealed during one of the most high profile court cases in gaming history is a massive blunder that Sony will be trying their best to recover from. But since the damage has already been done, all they’ll be able to do now is learn from this mistake and remember that the use of a marker in redacting confidential details is never a wise idea.
