After three days, the latest game from Naughty Dog, The Last of Us Part II has become the fastest-selling PlayStation 4 game in the UK. This is only accounting for physical copies. Ironically enough, The Last of Us Part II beat Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End by 1%. Both games were developed by Naughty Dog. It also beats the previous best for game sales, Animal Crossing: New Horizons, which keeps breaking records since its release. The Last Of Us Part II‘s launch sales is 76% higher than the first game too.
The Last of Us Part II has had quite the road leading to its release ever since its reveal at PSX 2016 4 years ago. The original game is beloved and many didn’t want sequel. But it got announced and everyone was very excited to continue Joel and Ellie’s story. Then, new characters were revealed in the second teaser of the game at Paris Games Week 2017. The gameplay was revealed at E3 2018 showcasing how the game has evolved since 2013.
Many were wondering when the game was going to be released and for Outbreak Day in 2019, Naughty Dog revealed new information about the game including release date of February. Shortly after, the game was delayed to May. Of course, during this time, the pandemic happened affecting the video game industry in a variety of ways including the cancellation of events such as E3, physical game releases being affected, and the development of games shifted to remote locations. As the months went on, couple of big things happened for the game, the game was delayed again due to COVID-19, and some of the story details leaked. Eventually, the game was released to critical acclaim but not everyone was happy about it so the game was review bombed.
But after all of that, the game is the fastest-selling boxed PlayStation 4 game in the UK. It says a lot considering the plethora of PlayStation 4 exclusives that were released during this generation with games such as Bloodborne, Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End, Horizon Zero Dawn, Marvel’s Spider-Man, and God of War.