HBO's The Last of Us premiered just several days ago, and we can't remember that a video game adaption was that hyped. As it turns out, the series' release also pushes the fans' interest in the PlayStation game the TLoU series is based on.
Video game adaptions often fail, and there are good reasons for that. But now there's the The Last of Us series, and it could go down in history as the first video game series adaptation that is truly convincing from start to finish, if it can keep its high quality level until the end of the season.
The viewership most likely consists of many people who have played the games. Both The Last of Us games were outstanding and have probably even raised expectations to the series. But for some people, the series will also have been the first contact with the The Last of Us franchise at all, and it seems that the series' quality and success also results in a rising interest for the games it is based on, as an example from the UK shows.
The Last of Us: TV Series Success Results In Increased Video Game Sales
As GamesIndustry reports, the sales of The Last of US Part 1 increased by almost 240% week-on-week, bringing it back to position 20 of the most sold games in the UK charts. The PS4 counterpart The Last of Us: Remastered also jumped to position 32 with a 332% sale increase. The upcoming PC port for The Last of Us will have gained some extra preorders as well. It is very likely that this boost is the result of the start of the series and that it will continue in some form until the series has finished.
If you haven't played The Last of Us, we strongly recommend it to you. You can get The Last of Us Part 1 for your PlayStation 4 , PlayStation 5 , and from March 3 on also for your PC (via Steam or Epic Games). The sequel is still PS4-exclusive.