Sony might've pulled a switcheroo on our expectations: Death Stranding could launch in 2019 and The Last of Us Part II could be delayed.
Kojima Productions is set to reveal new Death Stranding info today in a new livestream, and Sony even broke out pre-order bonuses that strongly hint at a release date reveal. But the official Taiwanese PlayStation account might've spilled the beans early. In a now-deleted post, the overseas account says Death Stranding will release worldwide on November 8, 2019.
The Last of Us Part II, Sony's other big marquee console exclusive, may miss 2019 in favor of an early 2020 launch. Sources close to Sony tell Kotaku's Jason Schreier that Naughty Dog's sequel will launch in February 2020. This is an interesting move. Sony confirmed that software sales would be low this fiscal year due to a lower number of exclusives than last year, but the timings for both games fit in the company's FY2019 timeline.
We originally predicted The Last of Us Part II would launch in 2019 and Death Stranding would be in 2020, possibly to coincide with the launch of Sony's new beefy PlayStation 5 console.
As it turns out, the two games may both release before the PS5 is made available in 2020 or thereabouts. After all, Sony did say the PS4 will be massively important to its gaming business across the next three years.