“The Final of Us” made its debut final night time on HBO and HBO Max. The collection premiere garnered 4.7 million U.S. viewers, making it HBO’s second-largest debut since “Boardwalk Empire” premiered over a decade in the past with 4.81 million viewers, the corporate introduced as we speak. “Home of the Dragon” stays the most important premiere in HBO historical past with almost 10 million viewers.
The online game adaptation was a recipe for achievement given the established fan base, a star-studded solid, and an correct illustration of the franchise that many avid gamers beloved to see come to life. Whereas it’s too early to foretell if “The Final of Us” will change into the preferred game-based TV collection, the viewership information is a positive signal that HBO is doing one thing proper. Notably, “The Final of Us” is the corporate’s first time adapting a online game right into a present.
“We’re thrilled to see followers of the collection and sport alike expertise this iconic story in a brand new approach, and we prolong our gratitude to them for serving to to make it successful,” mentioned Casey Bloys, chairman and CEO of HBO and HBO Max Content material, in an announcement.
We’ll additionally add that the premiere prompted a 69% improve in first-time U.S. downloads of the HBO Max app throughout iOS and Android gadgets, per third-party app intelligence estimates from information.ai (beforehand App Annie). Plus, the HBO Max app reached #4 on the general free iPhone app rating on the U.S. App Retailer on the night time of the premiere. The final time it was this excessive within the rating was when it hit #3 on the checklist when “Home of the Dragon” debuted in August 2022.
Nonetheless, “The Final of Us” has huge footwear to fill if it desires to compete with different game-based reveals like Netflix’s “Arcane,” which relies on League of Legends. Based mostly on Netflix’s personal metrics, “Arcane” had 38.4 million viewing hours in the course of the week of November 15, 2021. Paramount+’s “Halo” set a file for being the streamer’s most-watched collection premiere worldwide. Amazon Prime Video additionally has online game variations within the works, together with a “God of Conflict” collection.
The HBO authentic collection can have 9 episodes in whole and can stream on Sundays.
HBO Max subscribers had been launched to just a few characters within the first episode, so it’s possible the next episodes will function extra, corresponding to Frank (Murray Bartlett), Invoice (Nick Offerman), Kathleen (Melanie Lynskey), Florence (Elaine Miles), Riley (Storm Reid), Perry (Jeffrey Pierce) and Henry (Lamar Johnson). Viewers may even lastly get to see clickers in motion.
