The Last of Us 2 Sold Over 10m Copies Despite Being Mired in Needless Controversy

Sony Interactive Entertainment and Naughty Dog have revealed that The Last of Us 2 sales have crossed 10 million copies sold through as of “earlier this year.” That’s 10 million+ in less than two years – an impressive feat considering the hoopla caused by that unsavory leak prior to launch, and the pointless controversy that stemmed from it.

The Last of Us 2 sales track ahead of Ghost of Tsushima

For comparison purposes, Ghost of Tsushima released just a month after The Last of Us 2 but unlike the latter, it received the Director’s Cut treatment for the PS5. Despite this, Ghost of Tsushima sold through eight million copies on both platforms as of January 2022. That The Last of Us 2 sold through over 10 million in the same amount of time and without a PS5 release is pretty impressive and testament to its popularity.

Opinion: The mental gymnasts are coming for Naughty Dog

Zarmena writes… The success of The Last of Us 2 doesn’t come as a surprise to those of us who didn’t indulge in mental gymnastics surrounding the game’s sales. Even as I type this, someone is probably cracking their knuckles and getting ready to explain how their friend of a friend saw a pile of the game’s copies sitting on their nearest retail store’s game shelves and hence, The Last of Us 2 sales figures can’t be right (source: trust me, bro). Others will insist that Ghost of Tsushima’s sales are impressive but The Last of Us 2’s aren’t and pull out a chart of the PS4 install base to justify that nonsense. But the fact is, The Last of Us 2’s success was never going to be dictated by Firstname Bunchanumbers shouting on Twitter. Buckle up, we’re going to see a lot more of Neil Druckmann and The Last of Us!

In other news, Saints Row’s leaked customization game is now available to download for free, and The Last of Us multiplayer is bigger than we think.