The Last of Us Part II sold 4 million copies in its first three days — the fastest-selling PlayStation 4 exclusive at the time. It went on to 10 million by June 2022. It won 326 Game of the Year awards in 2020, including 68 decided by public vote. By any commercial measure, Part II was a success. It was also deeply divisive — players were split on the dual-protagonist structure, on the revenge narrative, on Abby. Five years later, the same story is playing out on HBO: Season 2 adapted the first half of Part II and the same fracture followed. The Season 2 finale drew 3.7 million viewers — down 55% from the 8.2 million who watched the Season 1 finale in 2023.
The TV numbers matter for the game’s future because Naughty Dog and Sony operate in a world where the show and the game share an audience and a commercial reputation. A franchise with a recovering show and a strong next game announcement carries more momentum than one carrying both. Right now, with PS6 on the horizon, the question of what The Last of Us Part III is, when it comes, and whether it even happens, is the most pressing one in the franchise. Here is every confirmed data point.
Part III Is in Druckmann’s Head — But Not Yet on Naughty Dog’s Slate
Interactive — click any signal in the tracker below to expand Druckmann’s direct wordsPart II’s commercial performance proved the franchise had a large enough audience to absorb a divisive story and still break records. The sales did not decline because of the controversial narrative — they launched at record pace. What the numbers also show is that the franchise’s audience is not a monolith: the buyers who completed it and rated it positively on PSN were a different group from the vocal critics. That split audience is now the foundation on which any Part III decision sits.
Druckmann’s public position on Part III has shifted several times since 2020. Click each entry to read his direct words.
Part II’s game audience split almost identically — a 93% critic score alongside a 5.8 Metacritic user score at launch. The same story, told five years later on HBO, produced the same response in a TV audience. The 55% viewership decline between finales is large. It is also not the only number that matters: Druckmann told Variety that the show drove players back to the games, with Part II Remastered selling an estimated 2 million additional units during Season 2’s broadcast window. The franchise still converts TV viewers into game buyers even when those same viewers stop watching the show. As PlayStation’s first-party slate extends further, that conversion rate matters more than raw TV numbers for Naughty Dog’s planning.
Season 3, now filming in Vancouver under Craig Mazin as sole showrunner, will be the first full season telling the story from Abby’s perspective — the element that drew the sharpest reaction from both game and TV audiences. Its reception in 2027 will be the clearest read yet on whether the franchise’s audience will follow the story wherever it goes.
This piece covered The Last of Us Part II’s commercial record — 4 million copies in 3 days, 10 million by June 2022, 326 Game of the Year awards — alongside the game’s divided critical and audience reception. Neil Druckmann’s statements on Part III were covered in order: a 2021 podcast where he said a plot existed, his 2024 documentary statement that a concept had been found, his April 2025 Variety comments advising against expecting more games, his May 2025 Variety statement referencing unannounced Last of Us projects, and his March 2026 Instagram post referencing “few stops that remain.” Former Naughty Dog director Vinit Agarwal’s April 2026 confirmation of a second project was also discussed, as were the TV rating figures — the 55% drop between Season 1 and Season 2 finales — as context for the franchise’s current commercial position. No Part III announcement has been made by Naughty Dog as of April 2026.