It feels like a lifetime ago. Honestly, looking back at the gritty, cordyceps-infested world Naughty Dog built, it’s hard to believe how much time has actually passed. If you're asking when was the last of us made, the answer isn't just a single date on a calendar. It’s a messy, decade-long sprawl of development cycles, hardware transitions, and a massive jump from your living room console to Sunday night prestige television.
Most people point to June 14, 2013. That’s the day the original game finally hit the PlayStation 3. But the "making" of it started way before that, back in the late 2000s, right after Uncharted 2: Among Thieves wrapped up. It was a huge risk. Sony wasn't entirely sure a somber, violent, and deeply emotional story about a middle-aged guy and a teenage girl would actually sell. They were wrong. Obviously.
The Secret Origins of Joel and Ellie
The internal development at Naughty Dog kicked off in 2009. While half the studio was busy working on Uncharted 3, a small team led by Neil Druckmann and Bruce Straley went into a room and started sketching out something much darker. They called it "Project Thing" or "T1" for a while. It wasn't exactly the game we know today at the start. Early concepts were more stylized, almost comic-book-ish.
Then things got real.
Druckmann has often cited a specific segment from the BBC’s Planet Earth—the one where a fungus takes over an ant’s brain—as the "aha!" moment for the Cordyceps virus. By 2010, the project was in full swing. They spent three years building the engine, motion-capturing Troy Baker and Ashley Johnson, and arguing over whether the ending was too bleak. When it finally released in June 2013, it was the swan song for the PS3. It pushed that old hardware to its absolute breaking point.
Remasters and Remakes: The 2014 and 2022 Eras
The game didn't stay "made" for long. Because the PS4 came out only months after the original release, Naughty Dog had to pivot. The Last of Us Remastered was released in July 2014. It wasn't a total overhaul, but it bumped the frame rate to 60fps and made the lighting look less muddy. If you played it for the first time on PS4, that’s the version you remember.
Fast forward a bit.
Then we get to the controversial one: The Last of Us Part I. This was the full-blown remake for the PlayStation 5. It came out on September 2, 2022. Some fans were annoyed. "Why remake a game that already looks good?" they asked. But Naughty Dog wanted to bring the first game’s tech up to the level of the sequel. They rebuilt the character models from scratch. They improved the AI so the enemies wouldn't just run blindly into your shotgun blasts. It was a massive undertaking that took years of work, proving that the question of when was the last of us made usually depends on which version of Joel's face you're looking at.
The HBO Transition: Making the Show
You can't talk about when this franchise was created without mentioning the jump to TV. Production on the HBO series started in earnest around 2020. Craig Mazin, the guy behind Chernobyl, teamed up with Druckmann. They filmed all over Alberta, Canada, from July 2021 to June 2022. It was one of the largest television productions in Canadian history.
Think about that scale for a second.
They weren't just making a show; they were recreating the 2013 game world with practical sets. When the show premiered on January 15, 2023, it introduced the story to millions of people who had never picked up a controller in their lives. The "making" of The Last of Us shifted from lines of code and polygons to prosthetic fungal masks and location scouts in Calgary.
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Why the Timing Mattered So Much
Context is everything. In 2013, the gaming world was dominated by "dude bro" shooters and flashy action titles. The Last of Us felt like a punch to the gut. It was slow. It was quiet. It forced you to care about the characters' internal lives rather than just their kill counts.
- The PS3 Era (2009-2013): This was the birth. The original vision.
- The PS4 Remaster (2014): A quick port to keep the momentum going.
- The Sequel Cycle (2014-2020): While people were playing the first one, the team was already sweating over Part II.
- The PS5 Remake (2020-2022): A technical refinement.
- The HBO Era (2021-Present): The cultural explosion.
Actually, the development of the first game was famously grueling. Naughty Dog is a studio known for "crunch"—long hours, late nights, and intense pressure. While the game turned out to be a masterpiece, the human cost was significant. This led to a lot of internal changes at the studio over the following decade. It's a reminder that behind every "Game of the Year" trophy, there are hundreds of people who didn't see their families for months.
Surprising Details About the 2013 Release
Did you know the game was originally supposed to come out in May? It got pushed back five weeks to June 14 just to give the team more time for "polish." In the world of game dev, five weeks is nothing, but for Naughty Dog, it was the difference between a glitchy mess and the polished experience we got.
Also, the multiplayer mode, "Factions," was almost cut. They didn't think they had enough time to finish it. It ended up becoming a cult classic that people still play today, even though the standalone multiplayer project was eventually canceled years later. It's funny how the things made in a rush often become the most beloved parts of a project.
How to Experience it Now
If you are looking to dive in today, you have choices. You aren't stuck with the 2013 version. The 2022 PS5 remake is widely considered the "definitive" way to play, mostly because of the accessibility features. They added high-contrast modes, audio descriptions, and haptic feedback for players with disabilities. It’s a huge leap forward from the original 2013 tech.
Wait, what about PC?
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That happened too. The Last of Us Part I hit Windows in March 2023. It had a rocky start—lots of bugs and crashes—but they've patched it into a decent state since then. So, when was it made? For PC players, it wasn't "made" (or at least playable) until ten years after the console crowd got their hands on it.
The Long Tail of Production
Building a franchise like this isn't a sprint. It's a marathon that involves thousands of people over nearly two decades. From the initial 2009 brainstorming sessions to the Season 2 filming for HBO that happened in 2024 and 2025, the "making" of this world is a continuous process. It doesn't really stop.
The influence is everywhere. You see it in the way God of War (2018) handled Kratos and Atreus. You see it in the way TV studios are now desperately trying to find the "next" big game to adapt. None of that happens without that specific window of time between 2009 and 2013 when a team of developers decided to take a gamble on a story about a girl and a fungus.
Getting the Most Out of The Last of Us Today
If you're a newcomer or a returning fan, here is how you should approach this timeline:
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- Play the PS5 Remake First: Forget the 2013 original unless you're a purist. The Part I remake captures the emotional nuances in the characters' faces that the PS3 simply couldn't render. It makes the story hit way harder.
- Watch the "Grounded" Documentary: If you want the real story of how the game was made, Naughty Dog released a feature-length documentary. It shows the raw, unedited stress of development. It’s on YouTube for free.
- Cross-Reference with the Show: Watch the HBO series after playing. It’s fascinating to see which scenes were kept shot-for-shot and which ones (like the Bill and Frank episode) were completely reimagined for a different medium.
- Listen to the Soundtrack: Gustavo Santaolalla's music was composed before much of the game was even built. He wrote the theme based on the script alone. Listen to it on vinyl or Spotify to hear the "soul" of the game that was created before the first line of code was even written.
The story of The Last of Us is as much about the people who made it as it is about Joel and Ellie. It represents a specific era in entertainment where the line between "video game" and "cinematic masterpiece" finally vanished for good. Whether you’re looking at the 2013 code or the 2023 cinematography, the impact remains the same.
Go play the remake on PS5 or PC. It's the best way to see the culmination of over a decade of work. Check out the "Grounded II" documentary if you want to see the making of the sequel as well. It provides a rare, honest look at the development process that most studios keep hidden.