The Last of Us
Documents about The Last of Us
Games: Once Upon Now in Hollywood
The entertainment industry is undergoing a fundamental shift as video games emerge as the primary source of intellectual property for Hollywood.
- Hollywood is shifting its primary source of intellectual property from comic books to video game franchises, following the commercial success of titles like The Super Mario Bros. Movie and The Last of Us.
- Game developers are increasingly retaining significant creative control, including script and director approval rights, to ensure adaptations remain faithful to their established canon.
- Upfront royalty payments for game-to-film adaptations currently range from $1 million to $20 million per project.
PlayStation Head of Internal Production Connie Booth Leaves Sony After 34 Years
Sony Interactive Entertainment has officially confirmed the departure of Connie Booth, the long-standing head of internal production at PlayStation.
- Connie Booth, the head of internal production at PlayStation, has departed Sony Interactive Entertainment after a 34-year tenure.
- Booth was a foundational figure in the development of major franchises including Crash Bandicoot, Spyro, Uncharted, The Last of Us, and Marvel’s Spider-Man.
- Throughout her career starting in 1989, Booth contributed to over 120 titles and was inducted into the Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences Hall of Fame in 2020.
Breathing Life Into 'The Last of Us': Part I and II
The development of The Last of Us Part I and II centers on the creation of a sophisticated, procedural breathing system designed to heighten player immersion through dynamic physiological feedback.
- Naughty Dog developed a proprietary audio middleware called 'Scream' to manage complex, procedural breathing systems in 'The Last of Us' that move beyond traditional, error-prone animation tagging.
- The breathing system uses a logic-based 'murmuration' loop that checks real-time game variables—such as player injury, heart rate, and AI awareness states (ambient, stealth, or combat)—to dynamically trigger appropriate audio assets.
- To ensure visual-audio synchronization, the team implemented a system that automatically stretches or compresses 30-frame facial animations in real-time to match the specific duration of the triggered breath sound file.
PlayStation's Top First-Party Games Now Cost >$200 Million to Make
Internal documents from the legal proceedings between the Federal Trade Commission and Microsoft have revealed significant financial data regarding Sony Interactive Entertainment’s first-party development costs and the commercial impact of the Call of Duty franchise on the PlayStation platform.
- Sony’s top-tier first-party titles now frequently exceed $200 million in development costs, with 'Horizon Forbidden West' costing $212 million and 'The Last of Us Part II' costing $220 million.
- The 'Call of Duty' franchise is a critical revenue pillar for PlayStation, generating $1.5 billion in worldwide consumer spending on the platform in 2021 alone.
- Over 43 million unique U.S. PlayStation users have played 'Call of Duty' since 2019, accounting for two-thirds of the platform's domestic user base.
Sony’s Confidential PlayStation Secrets Just Spilled Because of a Sharpie
The inadvertent public disclosure of sensitive Sony Interactive Entertainment business data during the Federal Trade Commission’s legal challenge against Microsoft’s acquisition of Activision Blizzard has provided unprecedented insight into the financial mechanics of the modern gaming industry.
- Sony's confidential documents, unredacted due to a scanning error, revealed that "The Last of Us: Part II" and "Horizon Forbidden West" each cost over $200 million to develop.
- In 2021, approximately 1 million PlayStation users exclusively played "Call of Duty," while over 6 million spent more than 70% of their gaming time on the franchise.
- "Call of Duty" players spent an average of 116 hours per year on the game in 2021, with those dedicating over 70% of their time to it averaging 296 hours.
Sony Expects to Make $450 Million on PC This Year and Significantly Increase Investment in Live Service Games
Sony’s recent investor briefing outlines a strategic pivot toward diversifying its first-party portfolio, with a heavy emphasis on expanding into the PC and mobile markets while scaling its live service offerings.
- Sony projects PC revenue will reach $450 million in fiscal year 2023, up from $250 million in 2022, representing a 133% compound annual growth rate.
- The company is shifting its investment strategy to achieve a 60/40 split between live service and single-player titles by fiscal year 2025.
- Marvel’s Spider-Man Remastered generated $52 million from 1.5 million units sold, while The Last of Us Part I contributed $15.5 million from 368,000 units.
Exploring Q1 2023 Video Games Live Streaming: The Last of Us
The first quarter of 2023 demonstrated a significant correlation between the release of non-gaming media adaptations and increased engagement within the live streaming ecosystem.
- The Last of Us live streaming viewership doubled in Q1 2023 compared to Q4 2022 following the debut of the HBO television series.
- Hours watched for The Last of Us games increased by 107% immediately following the television series premiere.
- Twitch chat mentions of The Last of Us actors and characters rose by 27% in the two weeks following the show's debut.
Mario Movie / Dream Games / Phillip La / Scopely acquisition / Sony’s Cloud / AI
The video game industry is currently undergoing a period of significant structural and technological transformation, characterized by the successful expansion of gaming intellectual property into mainstream media and a massive influx of capital into mobile development.
- Savvy Games Group’s $4.9 billion acquisition of Scopely represents its largest investment to date, though it accounts for less than half of the $13 billion the firm has dedicated to publisher acquisitions.
- The Super Mario Bros. Movie set records for the largest animated movie opening and the largest video game adaptation opening, with expectations to exceed $1 billion in total box office revenue.
- Dream Games is leveraging its success with Royal Match to launch a sequel, Royal Kingdom, as part of a strategy to mitigate rising user acquisition costs and market saturation.
Plus: Last of Us PC Fumbles, as Smalland & Terra Nil Come Through
The PC launch of The Last of Us Part I serves as a primary case study in the challenges of porting high-end PlayStation 5 titles to the PC ecosystem.
- The PC port of The Last of Us Part I suffered a poor reception due to technical instability, accumulating over 10,000 negative Steam reviews despite an initial peak of 36,500 concurrent users.
- Smalland: Survive the Wilds achieved early access success by reaching 9,500 concurrent users and securing a spot in the top ten highest-grossing games on Steam.
- Dredge matched the performance of larger titles with 9,500 concurrent users and received overwhelmingly positive player feedback.
Plus: Resident Evil 4 Takes Off Like a Rocket
This analysis examines the commercial performance of recent video game releases and forecasts upcoming market trends for the final week of March 2023.
- The Resident Evil 4 remake set a new franchise record on Steam with 140,000 peak concurrent users, significantly outperforming Resident Evil Village’s 107,000 peak.
- Projections estimate that the Resident Evil 4 remake will achieve between 3 and 4 million unit sales on Steam during its first week of release.
- The PC port of The Last of Us Part I is the most anticipated upcoming release, entering the market with 105,000 Steam followers.
Video Game Streaming Trends Report: Q1 2023
The live-streaming market experienced a cooling period in the first quarter of 2023, with combined viewership across major platforms decreasing by 16% compared to the previous year.
- Total live-streaming viewership declined 16% year-over-year in Q1 2023, though total hours watched remain 46% higher than Q1 2020 levels.
- Twitch and YouTube Live Gaming consolidated their market dominance to a combined 89% share, while Facebook Live viewership plummeted by 69%.
- Cross-media synergy is a primary growth driver, evidenced by the HBO 'The Last of Us' series triggering a 107% increase in viewership for the franchise's games.
Designing the Museum Flashback: 'The Last of Us Part II'
The design of the Museum Flashback in The Last of Us Part II serves as a masterclass in integrating narrative depth with functional gameplay.
- Level design functions as a non-verbal script, using spatial layout and environmental cues to guide player behavior and emotional response without explicit instructions.
- The development process for the 'Museum Flashback' level utilized a 'playable storyboard' approach, where designers used Maya to create rough 3D block-outs to test narrative beats before committing to full production.
- Naughty Dog employed a 'strike team' of four to six developers to support the lead level designer, facilitating rapid iteration and feature development through a cycle of frequent playtesting.