After becoming the fastest selling PS4 game in the UK, The Last of Us 2 is 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 2 sold 178,696 units. This is great sales news in a country that's so much smaller than the US. The game is one of the fastest-selling PS4 exclusives worldwide and recently snatched the throne away from Uncharted 4 for the sales record.
Video games industry analyst BenjiSales noted the impressive numbers on his Twitter and says The Last of Us 2 has "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 are  Final Fantasy VII Remake (which Benji notes is an "enormous brand in Japan" that no other game has come even close to) and Death Stranding.
For comparison, Benji commented that the original The Last of Us game 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 the possibility of a third The Last of Us to 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 2 is currently going through a round of review bombing on Metacritic from 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 2 took seven years to make, and some fans see it as an amazing homage to first The 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 2 is available to play now, exclusively for PS4.
Source: BenjiSales/Twitter
