Is 2023 about to become the year of 'The Last of Us'?

It’s coming to HBO, it’s just passed 37 million units for the series, and concept art has been released for its multiplayer game.

The Last of Us could have a massive 2023.

Just as the HBO series based on the original game is about to make its debut, game designer Naughty Dog has released concept art of the upcoming multiplayer game. And, as you’d expect, the art looks amazing. And crazy. But mostly amazing.

Here’s what we know about what’s coming up for The Last of Us:

Multiplayer concept art includes a cruise ship

On Tuesday, Naughty Dog, who released the original game in 2013, released a photo of the new multiplayer game’s concept art in a blog post celebrating the franchise’s 10th anniversary (more on that in a bit). 

The art shows a cruise ship that has run aground in a city and appears to have been there for a while, as damaged buses and building surround it. Two figures are shown to be approaching the ship. 

Naughty Dog co-president Neil Druckmann said the game "is shaping up to be a fresh, new experience from our studio, but one rooted in Naughty Dog’s passion for delivering incredible stories, characters, and gameplay."

It’s the second piece of concept art to be released by Naughty Dog for the multiplayer game.

The first piece of concept art was released last June, showing two armed players on a rooftop overlooking a ruined cityscape including a suspension bridge in the far background.

The original game came with a multiplayer mode called Factions, which split gamers into two sides: Hunters and Fireflies. (Many are calling the new game Factions after the original multiplayer game from 2013, but Naughty Dog hasn’t referred to it by that title so far.) The goal was to keep a group of survivors alive.

The series celebrates its 10th anniversary in 2023

It’s hard to believe, but The Last of Us made its debut in June 2013 on the PlayStation 3. It was a huge favorite of both critics and fans right from the start, lauded for its storytelling, gameplay, and especially its terrifying visuals of a ruined Earth filled with mutated, zombie-esque humans.

The series is based around a journey undertaken by Joel, a man who lost his daughter decades earlier to a deadly fungus that has ravaged the United States, and Ellie, a teenage girl who is immune to the infection. They encounter several traumatic events as Joel tries to get Ellie to the Fireflies, a group that is working on a cure.

The Last of Us series has sold more than 37 million games

In the blog post, Druckmann revealed The Last of Us series has sold more than 37 million copies as of December 2022. 

The series also includes the 2014 The Last of Us Remastered for PlayStation 4 and the Left Behind expansion pack from the same year, along with Part II which was released in 2020. 

The Last of Us Part I was released for PlayStation 5 in 2022. It will come out for Windows PC in March.

"To know that Joel, Ellie, and our whole cast of characters have been experienced and loved by so many of you drives the entire studio forward," Druckmann wrote.

HBO’s series debuts on Jan. 15

All of this is happening as the live-action series based on the game is just about to make its debut on HBO. 

Featuring Pedro Pascal as Joel and Bella Ramsey as Ellie, along with Gabriel Luna and Anna Torv, the series The Last of Us will premiere on Jan. 15. 

Druckmann is listed as a creator along with Craig Mazin, who is best known for creating the Emmy Award-winning HBO miniseries Chernobyl.