The Last of Us Part II is a mere two weeks away leading to Sony promoting the game through TV commercials, but it seems like the company as well as developer Naughty Dog are currently in some hot water after being criticized for using a song without the artist’s permission.
According to PlayStation Lifestyle, there are two different versions of the commercial with one being a longer version than the other. In it, Ellie sings a song called “True Faith” and the background music of the song is used in the trailer as well. The trailer uses a cover of the song that was sung by Anna-Lynne Williams. Following the release of the TV spot, Williams took to Twitter stating that she wasn’t given any credit or compensation from Sony or Naughty Dog for using the song. The tweet has since been deleted but included the following:
“Hey, are you aware that the True Faith cover you put in your The Last of Us Part II trailer is a replica of my cover that came out 10 years ago? I wrote original parts not in the original song that are copied exactly by whoever covered it. I am heartbroken. Your fans seem to have noticed because they’re commenting on my old video thinking it’s the same song. Credit? Compensation? At 3:30 in my song in particular is the vocal part that I wrote which is featured in your trailer exactly.”
Neither Sony or Naughty Dog have made a statement regarding the situation and the shorter version of the commercial has been set to private on Youtube. Pretty crazy to think about knowing that the voice of Ellie Ashley Johnson had to perform the song so you would think that they would have made a deal with Williams regarding usage of her cover. Nevertheless, the extended version of the trailer is still available for viewing.
The Last of Us Part II releases on June 19th exclusively on PlayStation 4. You can pre-order the game on Amazon.
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