The Last of Us 2 Accused of Copying Artist

Today, an artist named Lotte Kestner accused Naughty Dog’s The Last of Us 2 trailer of copying her cover of New Order’s “True Faith”. The artist said the following on twitter: “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 years ago? I wrote original parts not in the original song that are copied exactly by whoever covered it. I am heartbroken.”

Kestner posted this tweet towards Naughty Dog and its vice president, Neil Druckman, pointing out that it is a replica of her cover of “True Faith”. Her cover was released in 2011 in her album Stolen. 

For the sake of comparison, here is Kestner’s cover, the accused trailer, and the original song. Both the cover and the trailer feature humming-like vocals, which the original song does not. It is also important to note that the original song is a piece of synth music while the cover and trailer are acoustic.

The legal status of whether or not Kestner has claim to the cover is yet to be revealed. It is likely that Naughty Dog has copyright permission from New Order rather than Kestner. Copyright law is considered to be a legal grey-area and it will be difficult to predict how this will turn out if Kestner decides to take legal action.

This is not the first time Naughty Dog has been accused of copying during the development of The Last of Us. Before the release of the first game, actress Ellen Page accused Naughty Dog of modelling Ellie to look like her. The company responded that it had modelled Ellie to more closely resemble her voice actress, Ashley Johnson.

Naughty Dog and Neil Druckman have yet to respond to these accusations. Regardless, fans can look forward to the game’s release on June 19 this year.

Source: IGN

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