Naughty Dog responds to death threats: “We condemn any form of harassment”

The development team behind The Last Of Us Part II has been subject to multiple death threats and verbal harassment since story details of the game leaked earlier this year.

Since then steps were taken to disable comments on YouTube and Twitter to avoid spoilers being shared and further backlash being escalated. However, the team has still received harassment over the narrative choices, forcing Naughty Dog to respond on the issue.

“Although we welcome critical discussion, we condemn any form of harassment or threats directed towards our team and cast,” the developer stated in a tweet.

“Their safety is our top priority, but we must all work together to root out this type of behaviour and maintain a constructive and compassionate discourse.”

Although we welcome critical discussion, we condemn any form of harassment or threats directed towards our team and cast. Their safety is our top priority, but we must all work together to root out this type of behavior and maintain a constructive and compassionate discourse. pic.twitter.com/eoq4t1ITnh

— Naughty Dog (@Naughty_Dog) July 5, 2020

The team has received multiple personal messages over the past few weeks and game director Neil Druckmann shared some of the messages and commented on the issue with his own tweet.

“You can love or hate the game and share your thoughts about it. Unfortunately too many of the messages I’ve been getting are vile, hateful, & violent,” Druckmann’s tweet reads. The statement continues on to expose some of the messages the team had been received alongside a trigger warning to the sensitive content they contain.

Despite negative reception from some players, The Last Of Us Part II sold more copies in June than the rest of the top 10 gaming chart combined. This comes after the game sold more than 4 million copies in its opening weekend.