The Last of Us was a commercial success.

In the
United Kingdom, it debuted at number one in
the sales charts and stayed there for six weeks,
beating records set by FIFA 12 and Call of Duty:
Black Ops II. The Last of Us also topped the
charts in the United States, France, Ireland,
Italy, the Netherlands, Sweden, Finland,
Norway, Denmark, Spain and Japan. It sold 1.3
million copies in the first week, and 3.4 million
copies worldwide in three weeks, making it the
fastest-selling PS3 game of 2013 prior to the
release of Grand Theft Auto V. As of July
2014, The Last of Us had sold over 7 million
copies worldwide.
The Last of Us received universal acclaim, with
reviewers particularly praising the story, acting,
sound design, and graphics.

The graphics and art direction of the game were
praised by almost every review.

The Last of Us won Best New Action Adventure
Game from Games, and won User Choice Prize at
the PlayStation Awards 2013.

It has garnered 62 major gaming awards out of a
total of 89 nominations. The game has received
nods in a variety of categories, including Action
& Adventure, Artistic Achievement, Audio
Achievement, Best Game, Game Design,
Multiplayer, Music and Story, with stars Troy
Baker and Ashley Johnson also up for honours
for their performances.
The Last of Us is an action-adventure
survival horror made for PS3 developed by
Naughty Dog and published by Sony
Computer Entertainment exclusively for
PlayStation 3. It was officially revealed on
December 10, 2011, during the Spike TV
Video Game Awards and released
worldwide on June 14, 2013 and then in
Japan June 20, 2013. The game was
advertised and promoted massively pre-
and post-release.
The game was first teased before the Spike Video
Game Awards on November 29, 2011, with a
billboard in Times Square mentioning "a PlayStation
3 exclusive you won't believe. Initial trailers
showed an apocalyptic event, including riots,
epidemic, quarantine, and violence, as well as a clip
of the BBC's Planet Earth showing an ant infected
with Ophiocordyceps unilateralis, a dangerous
parasitic fungus that usually kills insects such as
ants.
How does this strategy
create audience appeal?
Think about what is
revealed and what is
hidden.
On December 9, 2011, players of Uncharted 3:
Drake's Deception spotted an in-game reference to
the aforementioned trailer with the newspaper
headline "scientists are still struggling to understand
deadly fungus". Druckmann and Straley later said
that Naughty Dog had actually meant to remove the
cheeky clue from Uncharted 3, but simply forgot it
was there.
How does this strategy
create audience appeal?
Think about what is
revealed and what is
hidden.
December 10
th
2011
Sony Computer Entertainment officially unveiled the game, a
brand new intellectual property from Naughty Dog, created
by a previously unpublicized Naughty Dog development
team, at the Spike Video Game Awards 2011. A gameplay
trailer, made up of in-game footage, showed a man and a
teenage girl fending off other survivors and what appeared
to be people with unusual fungal growth before running out
into a dilapidated city covered in greenery, reminiscent of
the film I Am Legend.
Shortly after the unveiling, Naughty Dog co-president Evan Wells
posted new details of The Last of Us on the PlayStation Blog:

The Last of Us is a genre-defining experience that blends survival
and action elements to tell a character-driven tale about a
modern plague decimating mankind. Nature encroaches upon
civilization, forcing remaining survivors to kill for food, weapons
and whatever they can find. Joel, a ruthless survivor, and Ellie, a
brave young teenage girl who is wise beyond her years, must
work together to survive their journey across what remains of the
United States.
Identify key codes and
signifiers in the trailer.
What is revealed
about the game and
how does this target
an audience?
June, 2012
At E3 (Electronic Entertainment Expo) 2012 the first
publicly released gameplay demo for The Last of
Us was premiered. It introduced a combat scenario
to the audience, showing firsthand the tools of the
trade Joel and Ellie must use to attempt to defend
themselves from a small group of bandits, as well as
how the bandits would coordinate and respond
based on Joel's current situation and amount of
bullets he had.

August 2012
At PAX 2012, an extended version of the previous
publicly shown demo at E3 was released. It is about
sixteen full minutes in length and revealed several
new features and character interaction that weren't
present in the original.
Identify key codes and
signifiers in the trailer.
What is revealed
about the game and
how does this target
an audience?
July 2012
The game was brought to San Diego Comic-Con International
2012 in a teaser reel, entitled "Bill's Safe House Cinematic".
This cutscene preview involves Joel and Ellie fleeing to the
safe house of a somewhat friendly survivor named Bill. It
was also one of the big panels, featuring Creative Director,
Neil Druckmann, and Game Director, Bruce Straley, as well
as the actors for the main roles.
As you listen to the
panel, make notes on
key revelations about
the game. How is it
presented as
something new?

Why this trailer?
9
th
December, 2012
A new trailer is released, along with the box art for the
game. At the same time, information about pre-order
bonuses is revealed. Depending on which retailer they
pre-order with, gamers could aquire the Sights and
Sounds or Survival pack.

This is the first
mention of
multiplayer.
Exclusive to Europe was The Last of Us: Ellie Edition and the The Last of Us: Joel
Edition. They came with character themed steelbook cases and Blu-ray Discs,
screen print effect posters, DualShock 3 controller skins, and LittleBigPlanet
player character costumes. Miniature The Last of Us artbook and first issue comic
editions were included also, as well as the Sights and Sounds and Survival DLC
packs.

Think about:

genre
narrative
game-play
representations
audience
targeting
What does the cover artwork promise the potential gamer?
Do you think the
marketing appeals
to both male and
female gamers?
Why?
The first official television spot for
the game was aired on the season
finale of AMCs The Walking Dead
Monday March 31, 2013.
Why show the trailer during this
show? How does this choice and
the trailer itself target an
audience?
Why Amazon? How does this widen
the targeted audience?
An extended
trailer was
available to view
on Amazon.