Naughty Dog Accused of Stealing Another Musician's Work for The Last of Us Part II Trailer

The Last of Us: Part II has been under a lot of scrutinies from the game's leaks to the intense crunch reported by the studio's developers. Despite this Naughty Dog and Sony have been attempted to keep positive excitement for the game alive by releasing trailers showing off the game's development. The new cinematic commercial that was released yesterday is under fire. With artist Lotte Kestner stating that Naughty Dog copied her cover in the album "Stolen" as reported by IGN.

This is a serious accusation and the Tweet, which IGN saved, has been deleted. Kestner tweeted at Neil Druckmann, vice president of Naughty Dog and director of The Last of Us Part II:

@Neil_Druckmann @Naughty_Dog hey are you aware that the true faith cover you put in your last of us 2 trailer is a replica of my cover that came out 10 yrs ago? I wrote original parts not in the original song that are copied exactly by whoever covered it. I am heartbroken.

According to the article the cover True Faith used in the commercial, which is a take on the song from New Order, could be heard on the 45-second mark being sung by Ellie. I heard a small similarity between the versions but not enough that it's a replica, at least from my perspective.

Of course, my personal views don't matter, instead, it's the legality that matters. IGN's article does provide a prudent argument, stating that the legal claim would be of New Order since Lotte's song is a variation of that. Citing a case between Jonathan Coulton and Fox TV when the show Glee used a variant of his cover of Sir Mix-A-Lot's Baby Got Back. With Fox's legal team stating they had full right to do so.

The Last of Us: Part II launches on June 19th for PS4.

Adam Siddiqui,
Managing Editor, NoobFeed
Twitter | YouTube | Facebook