The director of The Last Of Us Part II as well as the vice-president of its developer Naughty Dog has recently spoken out regarding the review bombs and internet haters. In podcast hosted by former Nintendo boss Reggie fils-Aime, Druckmann stated that there was no point in arguing with people when they share their opinions on the game. In the podcast, Druckmann states that “you have to create some separation to say, we made this game, we believe in this game, we’re proud of this game, now it’s out there and it’s like whatever reaction people have–whether they like it or not–that’s fair,.”
While the director has stated that he respects the opinions of anyone who has played The Last Of Us Part II, he has also revealed that some members of the cast and crew have received more “hateful stuff” and stated that these are harder to ignore. He even states that one of the actors had received ” really awful, vile stuff because of a fictional character she’s playing in the game,.” While he doesn’t state who this actor is, it is possible that it could be Laura Bailey who motion-captured and voiced Abby Anderson. This can be supported by the fact that a number of the review bombers seem to have taken a particular dislike to her character claiming that she “fell behind in character development and motivations.”
Druckmann states in the podcast that “you’re going to get a certain level of hate, a certain level of vitriol that you just have to deal with. There is no other way to make it go away.” While the game did receive numerous bad reviews, arguably due to the review bombers, the reviews didn’t affect the sales of the game at all. The Last Of Us Part II became the fastest-selling game in the UK and the fastest-selling PlayStation 4 exclusive title, selling over 4 million copies by June 21st.