Naughty Dog has confirmed it’ll be removing the phone numbers linking to sex hotlines which were included due to an ‘honest mistake’ in The Last of Us.
The numbers as can be seen in a poster in the game for a “Pest Control” service in-game actually connects you to a sex hotline which is active and functional in real life.
Kotaku had contacted Neil Druckmann regarding this matter and he stated the following:
“That was an artist’s mistake,” he said. “What happened was, they put some phone numbers in the game and then they thought they could just change the area code to 555, then it’s invalid because it’s what they do in movies. But I guess that doesn’t work when you have a 1-800 in front of it.
“We’re now working to take it out,” he added. “It was just an honest mistake.”
The Last of Us is an amazing game and we hope the developers resolve this issue soon. If you’re yet to be sold on it, be sure to read our review of the game.