The Last of Us
The Last of Us is a 2013 action-adventure game developed by Naughty Dog and published by Sony Computer Entertainment. Players control Joel, a smuggler tasked with escorting a teenage girl, Ellie, across a post-apocalyptic United States. The Last of Us is played from a third-person perspective. Players use firearms and improvised weapons and can use stealth to defend against hostile humans and cannibalistic creatures infected by a mutated fungus. In the online multiplayer mode, up to eight players engage in cooperative and competitive gameplay.
This article is about the video game. For the television adaptation, see The Last of Us (TV series). For other uses, see The Last of Us (disambiguation).The Last of Us
Jacob Minkoff
- Travis McIntosh
- Jason Gregory
- Erick Pangilinan
- Nate Wells
Neil Druckmann
Development of The Last of Us began in 2009, soon after the release of Naughty Dog's previous game, Uncharted 2: Among Thieves. For the first time in the company's history, Naughty Dog split into two teams; while one team developed Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception, the other half developed The Last of Us. The relationship between Joel and Ellie became the focus, with all other elements developed around it. Actors Troy Baker and Ashley Johnson portrayed Joel and Ellie, respectively, through voice and motion capture, and assisted creative director Neil Druckmann with the development of the characters and story. The original score was composed and performed by Gustavo Santaolalla.
Following its announcement in December 2011, The Last of Us was widely anticipated. It was released for the PlayStation 3 in June 2013. It received acclaim for its narrative, gameplay, visuals, sound design, score, characterization, and female characters. The Last of Us became one of the best-selling video games, selling over 1.3 million units in its first week and 17 million by April 2018. The game won year-end accolades, including Game of the Year awards from several gaming publications, critics, and awards ceremonies. It has been ranked as one of the greatest video games ever made.
Naughty Dog released several downloadable content additions; The Last of Us: Left Behind adds a single-player campaign following Ellie and her best friend, Riley. A remastered version, The Last of Us Remastered, was released for the PlayStation 4 in July 2014.[a] A remake, The Last of Us Part I, was released in September 2022 for PlayStation 5 and in March 2023 for Windows. A sequel, The Last of Us Part II, was released in 2020. Other The Last of Us media includes a comic book in 2013, a live show in 2014, a television adaptation by HBO in 2023, a tabletop game by Themeborne in 2024, and an upcoming tabletop game by CMON.
Sales[edit]
Within seven days of its release, The Last of Us sold over 1.3 million units, becoming the biggest video game launch of 2013 at the time.[180] Three weeks after its release, the game sold over 3.4 million units, and was deemed the biggest launch of an original game since 2011's L.A. Noire[181] and the fastest-selling PlayStation 3 game of 2013 at the time.[182] The game became the best-selling digital release on the PlayStation Store for PlayStation 3; this record was later beaten by Grand Theft Auto V.[183] The Last of Us ultimately became the tenth-best-selling game of 2013.[184] In the United Kingdom, the game remained atop the charts for six consecutive weeks, matching records set by multi-platform games.[c] Within 48 hours of its release, The Last of Us generated more than the £3 million earned by Man of Steel in the same period.[186] The game also topped the charts in the United States,[187] France,[188] Ireland,[189] Italy,[190] the Netherlands,[191] Sweden,[192] Finland,[192] Norway,[192] Denmark,[192] Spain,[193] and Japan.[194]
The Last of Us is one of the best-selling PlayStation 3 games, and Remastered is among the best-selling PlayStation 4 games.[195] By August 2014, the game had sold eight million copies: seven million on PlayStation 3 and one million on PlayStation 4.[196] By April 2018, the game sold 17 million copies across both consoles.[197] According to Niko Partners analyst Daniel Ahmad, the game had sold over 20 million units by October 2019.[198]
