The most anticipated game of 2020 has not disappointed on the sales front. The Last of Us Part II may sit in controversy, but its successful launch week just broke Japan’s first-party PS4 games sales that stands as an impressive accolade in the western markets.
After becoming the fastest selling PS4 game and biggest launch for any boxed game in the UK, TLoU2 is setting impressive sales scores all over the world. Receiving 40% higher sales than Animal Crossing: New Horizons and topping 2016’s opening week of Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End by a narrow 1% (download sales not included) is testament to the success of Naughty Dog’s creation.
Video Game Industry analyst BenjiSales tweeted about the crucial figures that highlight TLoU2’s achievement. Noting that Part II beat Bloodborne and Spider-Man by over 30,ooo units in the Japanese opening week race, Benji also pointed out the game’s triumph in Europe. TLoU2 was Germany’s biggest launch of 2020 and Russia’s biggest PS4 exclusive launch with sales continuing to mount up in the US also. The analyst continued to tweet about the lesser discussed topic of the sequel’s fear factor, commenting that Part II houses more scares than the original.
The action-horror sequel produced 76% higher launch sales than is PS3 predecessor, as the first entry in the series sold an average 20 million copies on both PS3 and PS4. Becoming the fastest selling PS4 exclusive worldwide, TLoU2 has dethroned Uncharted 4 for it 8.7 million copies sold by December of 2016, surpassing the expectations of many. Various reports have thwarted any speculation that these high figures are due to the game’s controversy, as a vast portion of these sales were from pre-orders.
Japan’s most profitable market is by far the video games behemoth. Despite being smaller to the US, it still sold 178,696 units of TLoU2 easily claiming the number one spot in the charts. The only other Sony title that surpassed Japan’s global launch record, was Death Stranding - which is considered a second-party game - and Final Fantasy VII Remake. As Final Fantasy is an incredibly popular franchise in Japan, that is almost impossible to contest, it puts into perspective the impact that this sequel has had on the country’s market.
It’s certainly a worldwide victory for Naughty Dog’s bold sequel to its highly acclaimed original, and Sony are expected to address their success soon. While TLoU2 continues to divide audiences opinions on tone and character narratives, a majority of the gaming community still applaud its original gameplay format and the devs’ decision to go darker.
Source: BenjiSales/Twitter
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