Last Friday marked one week since the release of the controversial The Last of Us 2. Regardless of how fans feel about it, it seems that the leaks and hate surrounding the game didn't deter it too much, as it sold more than four million copies in just those first seven days.
The Last of Us 2 has been a hot topic even weeks before it released thanks to some leaks which painted the game in a negative light. While many of these leaks turned out to be false, a lot of the story beats which fans were unhappy with remained.
Following this achievement, Xbox executive Phil Spencer offered a congratulatory tweet to Neil Druckmann and Naughty Dog. Spencer, the Executive Vice President of Gaming at Microsoft, showed his support for the team's success with what he called a great game.
There are a few reasons why this is unexpected, but perhaps mostly it is because The Last of Us 2 is a PlayStation exclusive as it is published by Sony. It is nice to see that Spencer isn't above congratulating developers like Naughty Dog for the quality of its products rather despite their affiliation, and both Druckmann and his Twitter followers seemed to appreciate this.
On the other hand, many feel as though the game isn't faithful to the characters which fans got to know and love from the first game, and that it doesn't do much good at making the new characters it introduces relatable or even likable for that matter. All of these complaints have amounted to The Last of Us 2 getting review bombed on Metacritic and a general distaste for the game among the community despite critics heaping praise on it.
Debates aside, Microsoft continues to show a positive attitude towards collaboration with Sony and other gaming platforms, as is evidenced by its open acceptance of cross-play very early on. Fans were thrilled to see the interaction unfold in a public space, with many praising the respect that those in the gaming industry have for one another despite whatever metaphysical boundaries exist between them.
The Last of Us 2 is available now exclusively for PS4.