On April 2, 2020, Sony announced that it would be delaying The Last of Us Part 2 indefinitely as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. The company stated that the virus had caused logistical issues with the game's release, and so it would launch it at another date. Since the company has no idea when this date will be, it has decided to refund pre-order money to individuals that pre-ordered the game digitally.
The news comes from the Sony Support Portal. The site put up a banner with a reminder that both Iron Man VR and The Last of Us Part 2 would no longer follow their original release dates of May 15, 2020, and May 29, 2020, respectively. It also noted that all players that digitally pre-ordered these games would receive automatic refunds — anyone eligible for this will receive an email from Sony.
However, The Last of Us Part 2 publisher didn't give a timeframe for when players should expect to receive these emails. It also didn't provide any information about when players should expect their refund. Though, the emails themselves probably serve to describe these details.
Regardless, both the emails and the reimbursement should happen relatively soon since the company went ahead and made an announcement for it now. If anyone that did digitally pre-order the game doesn't receive an email shortly, they should probably go ahead and contact Sony through the Sony Support Portal, as this news originates from there.
While it may seem strange that Sony won't release the game digitally at the initially scheduled date, they do have a good reason as to why. The Last of Us Part 2's director, Neil Druckmann, explained it in yesterday's episode of the PlayStation Blogcast. When asked, Druckmann stated Naughty Dog wants to get its game to all its fans, not just a few of them.
The developer means for The Last of Us Part 2 to be a world-wide release, and some countries don't have the internet infrastructure necessary to download the game off of PSN. So while a digital launch would allow the game to come out without breaking the practice of social distancing, not everyone around the world can afford such a luxury. Though, Naughty Dog admits that it doesn't have a set plan for how it will release the game. It's currently weighing its options and seeing how the COVID-19 situation plays out day-by-day.
The Last of Us Part 2 has been delayed indefinitely.
Source: Sony Support Portal