The Last of Us Part II

We got The Last of Us Part II in 2020, right in the middle of the chaos. The leaks had already poisoned the well before launch—everyone knew Joel was dead—but we jumped in anyway. The house spent 93 hours inside Ellie and Abby's fractured stories, and the atmosphere was tense in ways that had nothing to do with infected. Chat showed up furious or defensive depending on their Twitter position. Some people were there to validate their hate, others to find redemption in the narrative. We just played it straight, let people form their own opinions as we progressed. The streaming experience became less about the game and more about sitting in a pressure cooker with thousands of people who couldn't agree on anything. By the end, those 93 hours felt like therapy or a courtroom depending on the moment.

The Part II numbers mirror the first game but with a completely different context. Ninety-three point three hours, 1,033 peak viewers, 450 average. Forty-two thousand hours watched. But 2020 was different—people were home, they were online constantly, and this game tapped into something raw. The controversy kept people glued to the stream not because they loved it, but because they couldn't look away. The negative follow count (-79) tracked with players choosing sides and walking away from creators if we didn't align with their interpretation.