'The Last Of Us' Becomes One Of The Highest-Earning Video Games On YouTube, Thanks To Its TV Series

26/01/2023

The Last of Us is a 2013 action-adventure game from Naughty Dog, published by Sony Computer Entertainment.

The game was a commercial success, and managed to create a massive media franchise, including a comic book in 2013, a live show in 2014, and a game sequel in 2020.

And in 2023, HBO created an adaptation of through it a television series, and soon, that too was a success.

The Last of Us gives HBO a record-breaking viewership growth. And with the positive reviews of the series, the game is also getting a boost in popularity.

According to report by Bonusninja, playthrough videos of The Last of Us on YouTube have earned a combined $56,247 per hour.

Because of the smashing ratings success of the HBO television adaptation, The Last Of Us video game has become one of the highest earning video on YouTube.

The Last of Us

While gaming has become a significant business for game makers and players alike, some of the highest-earning games on YouTube have turned gaming from a hobby to a profession for a select few.

And among the games that are profitable for those people to create content on, The Last of Us began showing huge increase in 2022.

According to the online casino and online gambling tip provider at the time, the game became one of the highest earning potentials on YouTube with an average of 4,166,460 views across each of the most-watched playthroughs.

Bonusninja's analysis involved looking through the numbers of the top 20 most-viewed playthroughs for some of the most in-demand games, and calculating the games' average CPM (cost per mile) that advertisers pay for the ads on each upload.

This analysis was then measured against each video’s duration to calculate how much creators have earnt per-minute whilst playing.

According to a spokesperson for Bonusninja:

"The earning potential behind YouTube has long been utilized as a revenue stream by content creators - but many might be surprised to find that video game playthroughs can earn thousands."

"When games get an uptick in interest - due to TV adaptations like The Last of Us - it’s a great time for budding creators to start increasing their content output and capitalize on these newfound opportunities."

"It just goes to show that it’s worth putting gaming content and reviews out there, particularly if you’re passionate about what you’re playing, as you could become a regular streamer."

Read: Irene Adler Makes Sherlock's Episode Topped BBC's IPlayer In 2012

In the game, players control Joel, a smuggler tasked with escorting a teenage girl, Ellie Williams, across a post-apocalyptic world.

Using a third-person action perspective, popularized through games like Resident Evil 4, players must use various improvised weapons and firearms, as well as cunning and stealth to defend against enemies that include creatures infected by a mutated fungus, called Cordyceps.

This form of a parasitic fungal infection inspired by the real-life ophiocordyceps unilateralis.

In the game, the infection has killed 60% of the population and has four stages of infection, which increasingly causes humans to resemble zombie-like monsters that use echolocation.

The higher the stage of infection, the infected would grow hardened fungal plates, and grow the ability to release infectious spores.

This makes it much harder to be killed.

It takes an infected person about a decade to reach the fourth stage of infection.

And here, Ellie is miraculously immune to the infection.

Ellie's immunity to the fungus is unique, because it happened following a strange mutation in her brain that developed following her initial infection, which she experienced when she was way younger.

Because of that, she developed a natural resistance to the bites and spores of the Infected.

This trait could be the key to reverse engineering a vaccine.

It's presumed that if she was properly studied, some form of cure or countermeasure for the infection could be created. But this is not clarified, since Joel realized that the people who were willing to study Ellie would kill Ellie to make a vaccine.

Joel deliberately stopped them.

Joel spent months escorting Ellie across America. And because of this, the two eventually formed a close bond.

Ellie becomes so precious to Joel, that he would use any means possible to protect her and keep her safe. And as Joel established not only a daughter-father relationship, but also a bond of protection with Ellie, Joel cannot deal with the fact that the study would result in Ellie's death.

After losing his only daughter, Sarah, in the early stages of the outbreak, Joel became a ruthless and cynical smuggler. While he was tasked by Fireflies, a revolutionary militia group, to only escort Ellie, Joel eventually grows a father's love to Ellie. Joel doesn't care that if Ellie is the key to mankind's survival.

Because he couldn't bare to lose another 'daughter', Joel is willing to protect Ellie no matter what.

It's worth noting, that although Ellie is immune, when she eventually gets bitten by an Infected, she does carry a form of the infection inside of her. While Ellie shows no signs of infection, she does have have small fungi growing around the bite mark.

Ellie continues to test positive for the infection despite not being sick.

Ellie’s condition is "an anomaly that scientists have not seen before in any of their previous subjects."

The Last of Us

It's also worth noting though, playthrough earnings generated from the game The Last of Us still pales if compared to Grand Theft Auto V, which according to Bonusninja, peaks at over $240,000 per hour.

Bonusninja found that an average of 18.1 million views were reported across each video showcasing GTA V’s gameplay

Other games Bonusninja analyzed, include Elden Ring, Red Dead Redemption 2, Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order, Portal 2, God of War Ragnarök, Pokémon Scarlet and Violet, and Doom.

A Bonusninja spokesperson added that:

"It just goes to show that it’s worth putting gaming content and reviews out there, particularly if you’re passionate about what you’re playing, as you could become a regular streamer."

Further reading: 'The Queen’s Gambit', Netflix's Most-Viewed Limited Scripted Series In 23 Years