The Last of Us Is TV's Most Popular Video Game Adaptation
The Last of Us continues to click with audiences: a study reveals the HBO series is the most-searched TV show adapted from a video game. The live-action adaptation based on the 2013 PlayStation game of the same name received an early season 2 renewal after its January 15th series premiere — which reached more than 22 million viewers — was HBO's second-most-watched series debut in a decade, behind only Game of Thrones spinoff House of the Dragon. The network also reported The Last of Us saw three consecutive weeks of audience growth to score series-high ratings with episode 4.
The apocalyptic drama isn't just topping the charts in ratings. A study conducted by the online jigsaw site I'm-A-Puzzle found that The Last of Us is the most searched-for video game adaptation online with more than 300,000 monthly searches, outpacing Netflix anime Cyberpunk: Edgerunners (246,000 average monthly searches) and Paramount+'s live-action Halo series (201,000 average monthly searches), which will return for a second season.
To find which titles are most popular in terms of online searches, I'm-A-Puzzle analyzed over 50 TV shows and anime series adapted from video games during the 30 years. The top 10, which you can see below, includes animated adaptations Castlevania, Sonic Prime, and the longrunning Pokémon anime, plus the live-action Chinese drama Crossfire and Netflix's Witcher spin-off The Witcher: Blood Origin.
Top 10 Most-Searched TV Series Adapted From Video Games
Rank |
TV Series |
Years |
Search Volume |
1. |
The Last of Us |
2023 |
301,000 |
2. |
Cyberpunk: Edgerunners |
2022 |
246,000 |
3. |
Halo |
2022- |
201,000 |
4. |
Castlevania |
2017-2021 |
110,000 |
5. |
Sonic Prime |
2022 |
90,500 |
6. |
2014-2017 |
74,000 |
|
7. |
The Witcher: Blood Origin |
2022 |
74,000 |
8. |
Crossfire |
2020 |
33,100 |
9. |
Pokémon |
1997- |
33,100 |
10. |
Arcane: League of Legends |
2021 |
22,200 |
"This research demonstrates a real variety in popular games including modern game adaptations, without forgetting about the iconic classics," said a spokesperson for I'm-A-Puzzle, where users can play thousands of online jigsaw puzzles for free. "In fact, on one hand, the list is topped by The Last of Us, which is the most recent adaptation of an extremely popular game. At the same time, it figures names like Pokémon, which started airing in 1997 and counts a whopping 1,228 episodes to this day and is one of the most popular anime of the world."
New episodes of The Last of Us premiere Sundays on HBO and HBO Max. Follow for more The Last of Us on ComicBook.