After becoming thefastest selling PS4 game in the UK,The Last of Us 2is continuing to make a big splash in various markets. The game’s incredible launch week is continuing in Japan, where it has recently broke the record for first-party PS4 game sales in the country.
Japan is a relatively smaller region, but is a prime player in the video game market. In its opening week in Japan,The Last of Us 2sold 178,696 units. This is great sales news in a country that’s so much smaller than the US. The game is one of thefastest-selling PS4 exclusivesworldwide and recently snatched the throne away fromUncharted 4for the sales record.
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Video games industry analyst BenjiSales noted the impressive numbers on his Twitter and saysThe Last of Us 2has “the best launch ever for a Western developed PS4 exclusive” in Japan. He added that the only PS4 exclusives to have performed better at launch in Japan areFinal Fantasy VIIRemake(which Benji notes is an “enormous brand in Japan” that no other game has come even close to) andDeath Stranding.
For comparison, Benji commented that the originalThe Last of Usgame sold 129,983 units at launch in Japan. That’s also a great launch, but it makes sense that the sequel had an even better launch given how many people played and enjoyed the first game and were excited to see what came next. And according to Neil Druckmann, there’s thepossibility of a thirdThe Last of Usto follow up on the success of the first two.
The game is selling well, yet it’s not without its share of controversy.The Last of Us 2is currently going through a round ofreview bombing on Metacriticfrom fans disappointed by the direction of the sequel and those who haven’t even played the game. Although review bombing is an unfortunate yet not uncommon phenomenon in the video game industry, clearly the voices giving zeroes to the game aren’t the only perspectives in the gaming community. Plenty of gamers are talking with their wallets, and the numbers show that.
The Last of Us 2took seven years to make, and some fans see it as anamazing homage to firstThe Last of Us.Despite negative reviews and complaints about the company’s crunch culture, Naughty Dog is getting a large reward for almost a decade’s worth of hard work. And as always, the best way for people to see if a game lives up to the hype is to play it themselves.
The Last of Us 2is available to play now, exclusively for PS4.
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