HBO’s new show, based on PlayStation’s fungal zombie game The Last of Us (coming to PC soon), has gotten off to a healthy start. Both drew 4.7 million viewers.
This made The Last of Us the second-most-watched HBO series debut since the first episode of Boardwalk Empire aired in 2010 (4.81 million viewers), but it came in at number two. The difference between first place is very large. About 10 million people watched Dragon on its premiere last year. Perhaps even a hugely popular game series like The Last of Us isn’t fair to compare to Game of Thrones. George RR Martin’s books alone have sold tens of millions of copies of The Last of Us and its sequel, surpassing the finale of Game of Thrones. broke HBO records 19.3 million viewers when aired.
What struck me as odd was that a show based on the hit game series couldn’t outdo Boardwalk Empire, a period piece you can’t remember arguing around a coffee machine in 2010. It reasonably points out that it predates Boardwalk’s 2010 premiere. According to the network, “Sunday night ratings for HBO series typically represent between 20% and 40% of the show’s total viewership per episode.” I also forgot it was starring Buscemi, and I didn’t know the first episode was directed by Martin Scorsese, so maybe the secondary lesson here is that you should watch Boardwalk Empire. not.)
Opinions about the PC Gamer team are mixed when it comes to The Last of Us. We criticized it for being too simplistic a Prestige TV adaptation of a game that mimicked Prestige TV itself, with no new observations or interesting deviations to make it stand out. The meeting had some serious defenses against the apocalypse of mainstream premium cable.With great sets and performances, The Last of Us is entertaining source material.It may not be particularly bold, but how much is TV mosquito? At least it’s more interesting than the Halo show.
Speaking of Paramount’s Halo series Set your own viewing record Paramount Plus last year. The network didn’t release specific numbers, but viewers for Master Chief’s TV debut were in the same five-million ballpark as Joel and Ellie. said The Witcher (which is based on the book, not the game, only technically) was the most watched debut season. In time, it helped drive sales of his RPG for CD Projekt. Also, in the past, he has made headlines for Netflix’s Castlevania show.
Aside from the recent Resident Evil show that was bad, and other recent Resident Evil shows that were bad, it looks like we’re at the beginning of a golden age of TV adaptations of video games.
Last we heard, Assassin’s Creed, Splinter Cell, Far Cry, Horizon Zero Dawn, Tomb Raider, and Gears of War shows are in development on Netflix and are mostly animated. AMC is working on an Alan Wake show, Amazon is doing God of War, NBC is doing a Twisted Metal show on streaming service Peacock, and even stranger, a new streaming service called Binge is in the works. Hunt: Showdown, Driver, and System Shock shows. .
While the reaction to The Last of Us we’ve released so far has been less than enthusiastic, the overall critical response to the show has been very positive, with the BBC and others calling it “best video ever”. We call it “game adaptation”.
New episodes of The Last of Us air Sundays at 9 p.m. on HBO and stream on HBO Max. The season finale is scheduled for March 12th. The Last of Us Part 1, a remake of the 2013 game, will release on PC on March 3rd.
