Naughty Dog‘s follow-up to their 2013 survival/horror blockbuster was developed by a workforce of over 2,000 people, as 14 outsourced studios contributed to The Last of Us Part 2’s development. Specifically, the game’s production involved 2,332 people, with 2,169 developers and 163 thanks.
Of course, the total number isn’t derived from Naughty Dog and Sony alone, as two studios were brought in as contractors to handle stuff like voiceover recording and editorial, specializing in sound design and mixing. The two external studios were responsible for the general sound and the recording of weapons and combat.
The remaining 12 external studios, some with a staff of just two people, and others with a staff of over 50 people, handled various aspects of The Last of Us Part 2’s art.
Last week, it was revealed that The Last of Us Part 2 set a new record for digital sales, and it terms of overall sales, it recently became the best-selling game of 2020, passing up Call of Duty: Modern Warfare and Animal Crossing: New Horizons.
When asked about the game’s sales during a chat with Troy Baker, who plays Joel in The Last of Us Part 2, Neil Druckmann, the director of the game, said that he doesn’t care about sales, adding that all he cares about is for the game to be successful enough to where Sony allows them to keep doing what they’re doing. Given the overwhelming success of Naughty Dog’s latest title, it’s pretty safe to say that Sony will, in fact, allow them to keep doing their thing.
Also, during a recent interview with Game Informer, Druckmann detailed the game’s alternate ending, which would have Ellie kill Abby at the end. Instead, cooler heads prevailed, as Ellie allowed Abby to sail away with Lev.
“We did a lot of iterations on what that last act looked like, but the final beat was that Ellie would kill Abby. About halfway through production, we changed that and had Ellie let go at the last second to illustrate that some little part of the old Ellie, the Ellie with humanity, the Ellie that is impacted by Joel, still exists within this character who has been so overtaken by her quest for revenge.”
Even though The Last of Us Part 2 has been the subject of a ton of controversy, as it’s the most polarizing release in quite some time, it’s been a huge success. Whether or not that means we’re going to get a Last of Us Part 3 remains to be seen.