In addition to being the most polarizing game of the current generation, and perhaps of all time, Naughty Dog‘s latest game, The Last of Us Part 2, has been a tremendous financial success. Sony recently reported that the sequel to their 2013 blockbuster survival/horror classic sold over 4 million copies in just three days, selling more than the rest of the top ten best-selling games combined.
According to Games Industry, the number cruncher Super Date revealed that The Last of Us Part 2 sold 2.8 million digital copies, making it the best-selling PlayStation exclusive within its own launch month. Previously, Marvel’s Spider-Man held the record with 2.2 million digital sales.
When asked about the financial success of The Last of Us Part 2, Neil Druckmann, who directed the game, told Troy Baker that he “doesn’t care” about sales, all he wants is for Sony to allow the Naughty Dog team to continue creating amazing games in the future.
“Just to talk about sales for a second: I just want to sell enough so we can do it again, so Sony will keep trusting us and giving us the creative freedom to do whatever we need to do. Anything beyond that is just gravy.”
Druckmann also recently spoke with Game Informer, where he provided details regarding the game’s original ending, which would see Ellie killing Abby at the end, instead of letting her sail away with Lev.
“We did a lot of iterations on what that last act looked like, but the final beat was that Ellie would kill Abby. About halfway through production, we changed that and had Ellie let go at the last second to illustrate that some little part of the old Ellie, the Ellie with humanity, the Ellie that is impacted by Joel, still exists within this character who has been so overtaken by her quest for revenge.”
One of the biggest criticisms about The Last of Us Part 2 was Naughty Dog’s decision to have Ellie let Abby live after spending roughly half the game trying to hunt her down and kill her. Of course, the biggest critique of the game is how Joel ended up revealing himself to complete strangers, which in turn got him killed by Abby, but it’s possible that the game wouldn’t be as polarizing if they allowed Ellie to finish what she started, instead of just walking away.
The Last of Us Part 2 is available now for the PlayStation 4, and it’ll take players roughly 25 hours to complete.
