Here’s How Hackers Allegedly Leaked ‘The Last of Us Part II’ Plot Details

Exactly one week ago, PlayStation and Naughty Dog were rocked by of its highly-anticipated game, The Last of Us Part II. Now we know exactly how it happened. 

In the most 2020 news ever, cut scenes that basically exposed significant plot details of hit the web much to the dismay of gamers. Rumors swirled that a disgruntled ex-Naughty Dog employee was behind the massive leak, now Kotaku is reporting that hackers were able to obtain the PS4 exclusive’s plot details by using Naughty Dog’s older games.

Kotaku shared a Twitter thread that broke down how the bored nerds got access to the game studio’s serves. In the thread, @PixelButts explains how every Naughty Dog game has a “final” patch that contains an Amazon AWS key. When paired with a secret bucket ID, the user can gain access to whatever is on that server.

PixelButts further clarified to Kotaku direct messages that “The UC3 [Uncharted 3] key got them UC3 development material, and UC2’s key did the same, but there was some TLOU1 content mixed into UC3’s server, It wasn’t too much of a stretch to think TLOU1’s server would have TLOU2 [The Last of Us 2] material.”

Based on the timestamps of the leaked footage, it matches the date when the vulnerability was discovered. A source revealed to PixelButts that once the leaks went live, Naughty Dog changed the keys rendering the other keys useless. PixelButts made sure to point out that his source was not involved in the hack.

Bloomberg reporter Jason Schreier spoke to two people with direct knowledge on the situation, and he also came to the conclusion that hackers found a security vulnerability in a patch for an older Naughty Dog title and used it to gain access to the company’s servers.

Welp.

Despite the hack, The Last of Us Part II has gone gold already and now has a new release date of June 19, 2020. If you’re still excited about the game, you might want to avoid the leaks which are still floating around on the internet.

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Photo: PlayStation / Naughty Dog