The Last of Us 2recently released anextended commercial, getting fans hyped for the game’s upcoming June 19 release date. The trailer uses a cover of New Order’s “True Faith,” with Ellie adding humming vocals while playing the song. However, the cover is very similar to a cover of “True Faith” performed by musician Lotte Kestner, who released her version of the song on her albumStolenback in 2011.
Kestner reached out to Naughty Dog’s Neil Druckmann on Twitter, pointing out that her cover of “True Faith” appears to have been copied for Ellie’s version of the song as seen inThe Last of Us 2trailer. “I wrote original parts not in the original song that are copied exactly by whoever covered it. I am heartbroken,” she said in her initial tweet. Kestner then pointed out thatLast of Us 2fans are commenting on an old video of her song believing it to be the same exact song from the trailer. According to her tweets, Kestner is seeking credit or compensation from Naughty Dog, but the tweets have since been deleted.
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Naughty Doghas not responded to Kestner at the time of this writing. It’s unclear exactly what will happen. Since Kestner’s song is a cover of an existing song, how copyright applies exactly is unclear.Click here to listen to Kestner’s version of the songand compare it to the one used in the trailer.
This isn’t the first controversy thatThe Last of Us 2has found itself in the center of. Earlier this year, there was amassiveLast of Us 2leakthat saw major story points in the game spoiled. The story beats in question proved to upset quite a bit of fans, though apparently the leaks haven’t done anything to harmLast of Us 2’s pre-orders, if Sony is to be believed.
In general, fans seems excited to get their hands onThe Last of Us 2, controversies or no. The game is on track to be one of the biggest releases of 2020, with many excited to see if it lives up to the extremely high expectations set by theoriginalLast of Us.
In the meantime, it will be interesting to see what happens withThe Last of Us 2’s cover of “True Faith” and its similarities to Kestner’s version of the song.
The Last of Us 2launches on June 19, exclusively for PS4.
