Has The Last of Us Release Date been revealed?

Naughty Dog and Sony have a big first party exclusive due out in 2013 with The Last of Us, but we’re not sure when Joel and Ellie’s post-apocalyptic adventure will begin. It appears that the world’s biggest retailer has begun speculating about the timing of this release, giving the game a Spring 2013 release date.

Submitted earlier by a reader on IGN, Wal-Mart is using pre-order reservation cards for consumers to hold their copies of the game, and Spring 2013 is the estimated date of arrival. While Sony has yet to reveal the official release date of the game, they’ve commented on Wal-Mart’s prediction, and claim that the company is “speculating” at this point.

Retailers usually have heads up time as to the timing of new video game releases so they can budget their shelf space appropriately, so it’s hard to tell if this is a case of Wal-Mart jumping the gun or just taking a wild stab at the timing of this release.

If The Last of Us does arrive this spring, it will do so during a stacked lineup of AAA games. Grand Theft Auto V is due for a spring release, alongside Bioshock: Infinite to boot. If Naughty Dog’s latest does end up arriving in the spring, the clock is ticking on getting word out to consumers about this game. Although it was revealed quite a while ago, the developers have been quiet about the finer details of what is one of the most anticipated games of the coming year.