An artist from Seattle, WA has accused Naughty Dog of copying her cover for The Last of Us 2 trailer. The trailer in question is the CGI trailer that recently released depicting Ellie in the heat of a battle. It also features Ellie playing the guitar, singing an acoustic cover of the song True Faith originally by New Order. In case you missed it, here’s the trailer:
After the release of this particular The Last of Us Part 2 trailer, musician Lotte Kestner tweeted the following message for Naughty Dog as well as Neil Druckmann, its vice president.
@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.
— Lotte Kestner (@lottekestner) June 4, 2020
In her tweet, Lotte Kestner mentions that the song used in the trailer replicates her cover originally released in 2011. She has said that the original parts written by her in the cover have been copied exactly in the Naughty Dog version of the song.
at 3:30 in my song in particular is the vocal part that i wrote which is featured in your trailer exactly.
— Lotte Kestner (@lottekestner) June 4, 2020
In particular, she says, a certain vocal part written by Kestner has been added to The Last of Us Part 2 trailer music exactly. In her cover, it appears at 3 minutes 30 seconds while in the trailer, it comes at 46 seconds. This especially has caused listeners to take notice of the similarities between the two covers.
Since Kestner’s version is also a cover and not a complete original, the legalities of this accusation are currently unclear. Naughty Dog has most probably taken permissions from New Order for their cover. But does Kestner have a strong legal argument in this case? It’s all blurred right now. Let’s see if and when Naughty Dog or Neil Druckmann respond to this matter publicly.
Update: Neil Druckmann has acknowledged this cover in a tweet and has apologized for it.