The Last of Us has gone on to go from being one of the best zombie apocalypse video games out there to becoming a much larger media franchise with the success of its newly adapted TV series. It’s been a remarkable journey for a franchise that has not seen a stop to its popularity for nearly a decade.
But this also asks a question, has there been any other video game series to have achieved such a feat? Well, the Halo media franchise has tried for the longest time, with its latest attempt coming as a TV series that didn’t do too well in front of critics. But Xbox CEO, Phil Spencer still has hope for the franchise.
Xbox’s CEO Wants For The Halo Franchise What He Sees In The Last Of Us
In all fairness, it did take quite some time- nearly a decade- for The Last of Us franchise to branch out to extend its lore beyond the videogame medium. The franchise was definitely busy trying its best to make a worthy sequel to its first entry in the video game medium, and boy it did well.
But there’s also been a significant improvement in the franchise’s attempt to branch out to other mediums, most recently coming with a TV series of the same name starring Pedro Pascal and Bella Ramsey that now airs on HBO Max. With this, The Last of Us franchise has gone on to further its legacy even more.
The series’ success has been met with a lot of applause, and one specific important person, Xbox’s CEO Phil Spencer, has seen what he likes and he wants it for the Halo media franchise as well. During an interview with IGN, Spencer spoke of his interest in generating such a warm reception for the Halo TV series.
“I want the best for everything that we work on, Halo television series included. I think there’s some differences there, but I don’t think that the point of the question of, ‘Hey, Last of Us is out there, setting an incredibly high bar. Should we all aspire to reach that same bar with the work that we do in television?’ Absolutely,”
It’s a great outlook on life to always strive to achieve more. Despite the failure of the Halo TV series to bring positive reactions from critics, what’s the harm in trying again?
Also Read: Nice Try ‘The Last of Us’ But No One Can Do the Zombie Apocalypse Better Than ‘The Walking Dead’
Phil Spencer Applauds The Last Of Us Success, Credits Creator Neil Druckmann
The Last of Us has made a remarkable shift to the television industry, and Xbox CEO Phil Spencer is so awestruck at the franchise’s progress that he couldn’t hold himself back from praising its creator Neil Druckmann on the progress.
During the very same interview with IGN, Spencer applauded the team behind the franchise for making the game’s charm work in the television industry as well, praising Naughty Dog CEO Neil Druckmann in particular-
“The fact that Neil himself has played a role, obviously in the creation of the game and the franchise, but see him applying his creative talents in the TV space, if that’s even what we call it anymore, video space, television space, I think is really great,”
He continues-
“The fact that you take one of the greatest creators from our industry and you can have success in creating in another medium, I just think it shows that in the games industry, you have some amazing storytellers, amazing creators across all third party, first part. I think it’s just a great moment to see the success that they’re having with the franchise.”
That’s a lot of praise from the rival company. Maybe the Halo TV series might finally be able to make it work this time with a second season but they’ll have to take notes from their rivals at Naughty Dog, and of course, Neil Druckmann.
The Last of Us is currently available for streaming on HBO Max.
Source: IGN
