Opinion: 'The Last of Us' shows it pays to take gaming seriously

Strong word of mouth caused viewership to jump from its first to second episode by the most of any HBO show. — HBO/TNS

To measure the place of video games in the pop-culture zeitgeist, consider that Gen Z is more familiar with Fortnite than Friends. The medium’s cultural reach is now at its peak, driven by the critical and commercial acclaim being heaped on the HBO TV hit The Last of Us.

The show, which tracks the journey of an emotionally scarred father and his surrogate daughter across a post-pandemic, zombie-blighted US, began life as a game on Sony Group Corp’s PlayStation 3 a decade ago. The faithful adaptation has made the story both a cross-generation success and water-cooler conversation — must-see TV in an era where few programs rise above the noise. It marks a year in which gaming has ascended to the level of the culturally unavoidable, a shift that will have major ramifications on where television and movie executives look for the next big thing.