With a heightened gameplay experience and some of the most impressive graphics in gaming to date, it may come as no surprise thatThe Last of Us Part 2took a whopping 14 studios and over two thousand people to complete.
The Last of Us Part 2is one of the best-selling PlayStation 4 games of all time as well as the fastest-selling platform exclusive. While its story faced some controversy, it is no doubt in the running for Game of the Year 2020.TLOU 2used an insane amount of motion captureto capture the beautiful acting moments seen throughout the game, whether it be a boss fight with the Ratking or somber scenes shared between Ellie and Dina. The sequel took over six years to complete, employing the talent of over two thousand artists, developers, testers, specialists, and more.
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In total,The Last of Us Part 2’s production process involved 2,332 people, including 2,169 developers and 163 given thanks. The number doesn’t come from just Naughty Dog, which had approximately 350 people from its team joinTLOU 2production over the course of several years. 12 other studios were outsourced during the process in addition to Sony, some with small teams of just a few people, others with hundreds of their own members, and multiple specializing in motion capture technology. Even a real tattoo artist by the name of Natalie Hall was hired to design Ellie’s tattoo covering the bite scar. Many members were also given credit forTLOU 2’s amazing accessibility features.
This number of employees may not seem extreme for those not well-acquainted with the games development side of the industry. Many modern AAA games take between five hundred to one thousand to complete, with the latter being considered a large team.Ubisoft’s AAA gamestypically take approximately 600 employees to complete, and in much fewer years thanThe Last of Us 2took to create.
According to ex-Kotaku employee Jason Schreier in multiple reports,Naughty Dog uses excessive “crunch time” schedulesthat include twelve-hour workdays for its employees, despite the massive number of names used to put the project together. Even thoughThe Last of Us 2was delayed following Covid-19’s work-from-home orders, the team was still forced to uphold this schedule for the months coming up on the game’s final release.
But the work and dedication from Sony, Naughty Dog, and the other 12 studios involved certainly didn’t go unnoticed. Many are callingTLOU2the best game they’ve ever played and a “generation-defining masterpiece.” Despite somecontroversy lying within theThe Last of Us 2’s violence, characters, and story direction, it’s one of the biggest contenders for Game of the Year, and no matter the outcome will continue to be a martyr and new standard for other studios going forward.
The Last of Us Part 2is out now on PS4.
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