The fact that an anticipated, well marketed video game has sold a lot of copies is hardly surprising, but success isn’t always guaranteed in the world of entertainment — particularly when launching a brand new IP. That said, Sony has just announced that its latest blockbuster release The Last Of Us has sold 3.4 million units, a result it is claiming has “surpassed all sales expectations”.
“These sales figures are a testament to the blockbuster quality of The Last of Us,” said Shuhei Yoshida, President of Sony Computer Entertainment Worldwide Studios. “The teams at Naughty Dog are true visionaries and their storytelling capabilities are second to none, this title is an undisputed demonstration of that. PlayStation continues to be committed to delivering unique gameplay experiences that redefine the interactive entertainment industry and The Last of Us is a perfect example.”
I guess the success of The Last Of Us is testament to its quality, but there are other factors: releasing late in a console’s lifespan helps, as does word of mouth, which I suspect has been paramount in pushing this game to a wider audience. The Last Of Us is a game you want non-gamers to play — it’s the kind of game you want to share and discuss with others. ‘Look Mum and Dad, this is what these gosh darn video games can do now’.
Interestingly, it’s looking likely that The Last Of Us may end up outselling all of Naughty Dog’s previous PS3 games. That’s a big surprise for me considering its a far more sombre, slow paced experience of a video game compared to the high octane Uncharted series.
Comments
35 responses to “The Last Of Us Has Already Sold 3.4 Million Units”
Guess there’s no accounting for good taste these days…
Funny though, Square Enix got very similar sales numbers for the month after they launched the recent Tomb Raider. Yet they stated that sales were below their sales forecast for that game.
Is Sony/Naughty Dog being overly modest? Is Square Enix getting ahead of themselves??
Perhaps it’s because The Last of Us is an exclusive, whereas Tomb Raider was across multiple platforms, including PC. What do you think Mark?
I would say it is because it is a MP game more than anything.
Really? All the rave reviews I’ve been hearing (I haven’t played it yet, but intend to) have been focused on the story, world-building and characterization more than the MP. The story and characterization is certainly why I’ll be picking up a copy after PAX this month.
I mean, I see a couple comments from folks on sites like Kotaku saying that the MP is very solid, but I don’t think that’s its selling point so far. Not like it is for CoD.
both SP and MP modes in TLOU are good where as MP in Tomb Raider was tacked on and absolute garbage
Sorry I meant Multi-plat not multi-player.
Oh! That makes more sense, I should’ve picked that up from context. (Still, I do hear the MP is good. 🙂 )
Definitely because of the exclusivity, especially when it comes to the consumer divide between the PS3 and Xbox consoles.
still, the revenue raised would probably be similar. i think square just got ahead of themselves.
I think it’s a bit of both. Tomb Raider sold something like 3.4 million copies across all 3 platforms (PS3 / 360 / PC) which Square regarded as disappointing (http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2013-04-09-square-enix-thought-tomb-raider-could-sell-nearly-double-its-3-4-million-first-month-sales).
So yeah, first month sales of TOLU on PS3 alone are roughly equal to Tomb Raider’s first month across all 3 platforms. That’s a combination of TOLU being an extraordinarily good game, but also I think Square Enix’s expectations being a bit too high. Selling 3.4 million copies in a month, whether that’s on one platform or across three, is a bloody good effort as far as I’m concerned. I reckon they’d have been better off being more conservative/realistic in their expectations and spending less on the development of the game. E.g. you have to wonder how much they could have saved if they’d not bothered with the multiplayer component – did anybody buy the game for the multiplayer? Does anybody even play it?
I haven’t touched multiplayer on either of these games. Tomb Raider was fantastic as a single player experience and TLOU is no different. Games like these absolutely do not need multiplayer tacked on to them. Surprisingly though I don’t mind the AC series having multiplayer because they’ve done something really clever with it there that enhances the experience.
the multiplayer on The Last of Us is far from tacked on. It plays pretty much like the single player.
u should give it a try before bagging it . Tomb Raider multiplayer was trash but hey i can say that because I’ve played it.
I believe those figures were only for US sales not global…
And I think their expectations were only retail units. One of the articles had a table with a footnote excluding downloads …. so any steam sales wouldn’t count for example.
I’m yet to see any real definitive sales figures. Especially since the profit margin on digital would be larger than retail.
Take these numbers with a grain of salt.
Well vgchartz shows 2.53 million sales globally to date (1.29m on PS3, 1.07m on 360 and 0.17m on PC). Taking into account that those numbers exclude digital sales, it seems to suggest the 3.4 million was global, not US-only. Total across all 3 platforms in the US is 0.9 million.
http://www.vgchartz.com/gamedb/?name=tomb+raider+%282013%29&publisher=&platform=&genre=&minSales=0&results=200
I found this, which I think is from a SE powerpoint.
http://images.eurogamer.net/2013/articles/1/5/6/7/1/5/8/13643055803.png/EG11/resize/600x-1/quality/91
seems to show different numbers but also clearly excludes download sales.
Squares sales forecast was absurd. They assumed they would sell more copies of Tomb Raider than any other title in the series. They also assumed they would sell more than Uncharted, based on the assumption that that game was a similar title, but only released on one platform!
Tomb Raider was released on all consoles, Last Of Us was only released on Ps3
best game this year sells a bunch of copies, what a scoop.
So you just read the headline then?
this just in, water is refreshing.
Cold, room temp. or hot???
cold feels the best and hot is great for mixing stuff with but apparently room temp is best for absorbtion.
It is a scoop! We live in a day and age where quality seldomly equates to sales. It’s fantastic to see a game this good be financially successful as well.
Naughty Dog’s grand scheme has begun. 😛
Kudos to naughty dog
Very impressive for a exclusive, definitely the figures of a system seller.
Congrats Naughty Dog.
I have three ways of thinking here
1 – Build a quality game with good graphics and engaging storyline and set a realistic target in sales – you have The Last Of Us
2 – Build a quality game with good graphics and engaging storyine but set a high expectation on sales – you have Tomb Raider
3 – Re-hash the same game, improve the graphics a little bit, have little to no storyline and almost everybody buys it – you have COD
4 – Re-invent a long standing franchise, greatly improve the graphics, and have a somewhat decent storyline and everybody who agrees with your comment ^ buys it – you have BF3
5 – Make a shit game using a well known IP with terrible graphics and lighting, a god awful storyline and make all of your money off pre-orders because people still do that – you have Aliens : Colonial Marines
Heh. Not as many people do that anymore, though. 😉 If we can thank Colonial Marines for anything, it’ll be for reducing Publisher reliance on preorders.
6 – port your mobile game featuring oddly shaped birds to every device possible.
My wife watched me and my son playing at different times and commented that HBO or someone should make this a TV show. She’d absolutely watch it.
She’s a Walking Dead fan.
Great good work Naughty Dog, now how about a price cut, the cheapest I’ve seen it in Aussie shops is $90, which for me is too much for a game this late in the console gen as I am poor and allready saving up for next gen.
got mine from ozgameshop, was about 50 bux with free shipping.
I bought mine for $77 at my local EB Games. EBGames of all places! The local JB Hifi was selling at $89 btw.
Saw it in EB today for $77. they were having 20% off it or something. I actually bought the Dark Horse released hardcover Art Book at that discount whilst I was there!