The Last of Us: Part I is out on PC today, and it's drawing quite a bit of criticism for its less-than-stellar technical performance, a state of affairs which developer Naughty Dog is actively investigating.
In a blog post (which is unfortunately quite celebratory in tone), the developer outlines its plans to continue working on PC projects in-house. Naughty Dog developed the PC iteration of The Last of Us: Part I and states there was "a large amount of tuning, tweaking, and even re-thinking" required to make the project possible.
At the bottom is a section titled "The Road Ahead", where Naughty Dog declares it will continue this approach, stating that "developing for both platforms empowers us to incorporate lessons learned from either into the overall design of our games. Sharing our stories and experiences on PS5 as well as PC is something that Naughty Dog has embraced and will continue to support moving forward."
What this means for upcoming multiplayer offering Factions is anyone's guess, but if there is a silver lining, it's that Naughty Dog will have certainly learned important lessons about optimizing a release for PC after today's rather frosty reception.
What do you think of Naughty Dog's plan to develop for PS5 and PC concurrently, and do you think they can pull it off? Put your best foot forward in the comments section below.
[source naughtydog.com, via gamesradar.com]
Comments 75
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Sony sure knows how to kill the value in their console :/
"And to maybe put a few minds at ease, releasing one first-party AAA title to PC doesn’t necessarily mean that every game now will come to PC. In my mind, Horizon Zero Dawn was just a great fit in this particular instance. We don’t have plans for day and date [PC releases], and we remain 100% committed to dedicated hardware." - Hermen Hulst, 2020
Sony games coming to PC is a good thing, I still won’t buy them on PC, I’m a console person first, but if someone only plays on PlayStation because they are forced to, then they are not fans, they are hostages.
now we know why the factions game is taking so long
I’m excited for this. At least once games are optimized. I would rather use a controller I prefer whenever possible. I hope Sony pushes this for other internal studios going forward.
ND hasn't made anything I'm interested in for years now. So long as they're on TLoU only train there's no loss of the series being exclusive. It's a darkly woven narrative displaying the worst of humanity... something we get a lighter dose of daily.
@truerbluer Exactly what xbox said and lied about.
@Tharsman You really have no idea what "hostage" means, do you? Not to mention, giving a system value at that for having games that a company OWNS on their own system.
I called it a long time ago. There won’t be much of a reason to buy a console in the future and if they have to cater to weaker PCs it’s going to hinder quality going forward as well. Hell, they are already push GaaS too.
I’m absolutely despise the direction PlayStation is headed. These companies are also pushing subscriptions services which will also attribute to the decline of top tier quality as well.
I dread seeing the state of games in 7 years.
This is just absolutely ***** news.
Hell, they already hindered the PS5 for these past few years due to PS4 crossgen and now they are going to make it a permanent path with weaker PCs. We won’t see a true PS5 game until halfway into the PS6’s generation.
I'm not saying it will happen, but just because they develop them side by side doesn't mean Sony will release them at the same time. They could still hold the PC version for a certain amount of time to try to continue to move consoles as much as possible.
I'm not saying this is a good direction, as it will likely hold up games in some instances, but I'm not going to freak out until Sony says it will be that way. This is also just one developer in their large group of developers.
Hardly doubt anyone who's been following Sony's trajectory the last few years could be surprised by this. We're just going to have to get used not being Sony's favorite anymore, and waiting that much longer for games as they continue to divert their resources away from PS5. I mean, I hardly doubt it's a coincidence that it's been ages since they've announced ANYTHING new for this damn console.
@truerbluer Hermen's narrative has shifted drastically every single year since they started doing this in 2020. I'm fully expecting this to be the year where he says all first-party games will come to PC day and date.
@truerbluer damnnnn caught my boi lacking.
Wonder what else is secretly in the pipeline now 👀
Cheaper on PC
Free Online
Superior Hardware & Features
Bigger discounts
Mods
Multiple ways to play (controller,keyboard,even seen someone play with a DJ turntable!)
man PC just been getting better and better non stop .
@nomither6 Wait until you try vr porn
I’m 100% in favor of games being available on as many platforms as possible, so that gaming experiences aren’t walled off from people choosing to play games the way that suits them. It being on PC takes nothing away from me, playing on PS5. The more people gaming, the better.
Didn't Sony acquire an in-house PC porting specialist for exactly this sort of thing? Clearly ND isn't as talented at PC game development as they are at getting the most out of Playstation consoles.
Anyway, I hope they keep this up, since it means there's one less console I need to buy every generation.
So does this mean all future titles will be day one on PC? If so they may as well put it on game pass too, save me money so I can just do that from now on
what are the specific PC porting studio working on ? surely shouldnt they have been doing the last of us pc port
why release a buggy game why do publishers keep doing this it is never a good thing to release and patch it later
@trev666 Players are testers you don't have to pay
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@TrickyDicky99 No one is forcing developers to go multi platform, just as no one is forcing consumers to buy games that aren’t optimized for their systems. First party Sony games will always be a showcase for the PlayStation system they’re made for. That’s how they move units.
Oh no its the end of the world...
PS5 was a giant marketing scam and nothing else. Worst console I ever bought, even Xbox One had more exclusives.
They better have an option to turn off crossplay if they are letting those cheating swines into factions.
Nope, don’t like this at all.
I don't exactly regret buying a PS5, but the experience has been very mediocre when it comes to games.
I really should consider switching to PC next time round. The mods alone are massive.
I'm going to echo many others on here and say that I think it's good that any given game gets as big an audience as possible by releasing on several platforms.
That being said, if going multi-platform results in even fewer games utilizing the PS5s full potential then that will be a problem for me. Unfortunately, Sony doesn't seem all that interested in leveraging their own hardware, for some strange reason
The lack of PS5 exclusives is a disgrace
Yay, less optimised PS5 games! I really do dislike cross platform unless the machines are practically identical (such as PS5 and Series X) and even then it’s not ideal. With third parties you at least understand it’s a business requirement for getting the game made, but first party devs, ahhhh!
Fantastic news. My PS5 is good for a console but by design they're less capable than PCs. Best case scenario this means more options which is always better for the gamers.
@OmegaStriver I dont think there are too many gaming PCs still in use that are weaker than a PS5.
The minimum system spec for TLOU PC was more than what we have in a PS5. So I dont recognise your argument. Remember the equivalent GPU (RTX 2080) was released 5 years ago, not just the 2.5 years of the PS5 release in which its performance is now found.
If anything targeting gaming PCs will push the developers rather than hinder them. They will learn and thus be able to release console versions that come a lot closer to PC versions.
@Arnna we spent our hard earned money on this console because Sony bragged about their exclusives. Why should we not be annoyed with their deception?
This whole generation was a waste of time and a giant cash grab.
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@jrt87 Selling it wouldn’t change the fact they were purposely deceptive with their marketing in many ways. They sold their console based on “ exclusives” which they know have pc ports in development. Maybe you are fine being lied to, but I will hold them accountable. My PS5 is just a glorified PS4 archive.
I bought every single console since 2000 except series x because it has no exclusives. And it’s not a coincidence it’s dead last every month and people are selling it below retail price.
@Arnna "releasing one first-party AAA title to PC doesn't necessarily mean that every game now will come to PC"
Meanwhile they are actually working on PC ports of every game behind the scenes. At least Microsoft was honest, Sony moves like shady scumbags.
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Frigging ridiculous. Sonys in-house studios should focus on the Playstation 5. Doesn't Sony have a port studio now? Nixxes, wasn't it?
Video games take a long enough to develop. The one advantage developing for a platform just became obsolete.
Now we got to wait even longer for a game to release. Fukk dat shiiiit
@Shad361 how is Sony shady they have say only games going day one is live service games single players games will take months before they go to PC you guys just want to jump to conclusions like always. Wait and see
@Nepp67 couldn't agree more. People throw around words they don't understand all the time. Same with slavery (if their job is demanding or doesn't pay well enough).
@Shad361 MS honest? Hahaha. Thanks for the laugh.
@lindos "I dont think there are too many gaming PCs still in use that are weaker than a PS5'.
Yes, "think" is the key word here. That's why there are studies and what we think doesn't mean much.
Sony claims Microsoft would sabotage Call of Duty on PlayStation
Seems Sony is doing the same on PC
@Arnna I'm complaining this will certainly make the quality less on the dedicated platforms.
Bigger day one patches, less optimisation, less quality control the more you spread the less quality you get.
Why do you think thirdparty games are miles behind on consoles when it comes to optimisation and looks.
I don't quite understand the ire here. The post says nothing about day and date releases, only that they will continue to develop their PC ports in house, which is just as it currently is.
Personally i'm all for most PS5 games coming to PC after a reasonable amount of time. Gaming should be inclusive, not exclusive where possible. That said platform exclusivity, even if it's just timed, is important for Sony and Nintendo in particular to keep their platforms strong. Less so for Microsoft who are both becoming more service based and are happy with you playing on Microsoft Windows as much as Xbox - they get you into their ecosystems either way.
As for TLOU Factions. If that is indeed a multiplayer game it would benefit from the option of cross play and a larger player base, hence day 1 on PC would probably make for sense for everyone's benefit.
I haven't updated my gaming PC for a while. I've been playing PS5 as my primary gaming experience for a while, but this doesn't surprise me. I never did like how the PC community acted with things like this. You can bet a load of those people facing performance issues pirated it as well, which is what it is and I don't pass judgement, but it's a bit much to give negative reviews when you didn't even buy it, but I digress.
One reason I got a PS5 in the first place was to play PlayStation's exclusives, which were simply unmissable, as far as I was concerned. We always wanted ports of console exclusives and now that happens, people still moan and denigrate the developers. Like, Naughty Dog and Sony won't fix these issues, or something?
@themightyant I honestly think that timing the exclusives isn't even necessary. The benefit of a gaming console is that it's cheaper, more couch ready and still looked good, with less hassle over PC gaming. PC gaming is still a chore at times, even if you love it, it's not as ready to go as a console, so there's still a market for each and I don't think timing is about selling consoles, it's likely about resources and developing for two platforms at once, which Naughty Dog aren't used to.
@Flaming_Kaiser You have absolutely no evidence this will happen and what you’ve said is 100% speculation.
@TrickyDicky99 GPU scales easily and is unimportant, they can just scale back for those. The larger concerns would more be CPU and SSD speed - this is one of the very first games to have a minimum spec of an SSD.
No they didn't. Frankly this is YOU misconstruing what was said. Mark Cerny gave just one EXAMPLE of how this could be used to. At no point did he, or anyone else, say this is how games WOULD be made, only that this was one possibility.
And yet no developers have yet done that. You know why? It will take entirely new tools, years of mastering them and a new mindset to make games in this way. We will be lucky to see many games made this way this gen. Instead they will use the tool and iterative software they know like UE5, or in house engines, that don't currently build games that way.
@MattBoothDev I agree to a point. But Steam Deck is making PC gaming more accessible, all it would take is them making an under TV, console like, Steam Machine (I know the last version they tried failed, but market has shifted) and suddenly you would have Xbox, PS & PC games day and date and some would start to jump ship. It feels like the logical next step for Valve to me. Consolidate the handheld, PC and console market. The only concern for them is that Xbox and Sony might not play so nice.
I still think there is some value in Day 1 platform exclusives. Even though it's a bit of a necessary evil. But that is a complex topic.
Flaming_Kaiser wrote:
Equally you could argue that with more estimated sales, due to being on more platforms, the games you love will have bigger budgets, and more people working on them and will be better then they would have been if they were just on one system.
This is exactly the same reasons cross-gen is here. If God of War: Ragnarok was ONLY for PS5 it would have had a smaller budget and been a smaller, different game. Simple economies of scale.
@TrickyDicky99 But Ratchet didn't really make games the way Cerny described, which was literally streaming in the content as you looked around in real time. Instead it just reduced loading times to the point where they could cover them up with short falling through the multiverse transitions. That isn't really the same thing.
Regardless this could easily be adapted for PC (SSD only like TLOU Pt1) but just have slightly longer animations as you fall through the world. Look at something like Miles Morales where on PS4 you have a loading screen when you go from inside to outside while on PS5 you literally fly through the vent and you are outside. It was doable on both.
If it's a day one release on both platforms: awful.
If it has the same bad quality of the Part I PC port: awful.
TrickyDicky99 wrote:
I agree. Absolutely the whole purpose of platform exclusives (first or third party) is to get more people on the platform so that Sony make more money on PSN. This is why I think going Day 1 on PC is a mistake for Sony on MOST games. I didn't say otherwise and neither does the Naughty Dog blog post.
But I don't think games coming months or years later is a problem either. We just haven't seen that shown in PS5 consoles or games sales... and if it does become a problem Sony can stop it just like that. But until this is proven this has a negative impact it is smart business to explore new income streams so that they can invest it back into the business, which means more or bigger studios and games.
What people are missing are these advantages of launching on PC later. Those Sony games now have a larger potential market and will have a larger budget, important when game costs are spiralling... unless you want them to shrink the scope of their games.
Well ...That makes it official, then. PS5 will be the last PlayStation I ever buy. I'll just go for a PC next generation ...and hopefully by then, GPU prices will have gone back to normal.
Just don't do PC and focus on PS5 development. I understand it's an extra income for Playstation but it seems to me they can have more if those PC gamers end up buying a PS5 instead of mediocre ports of great games.
@TrickyDicky99 Perhaps. But I suspect they know about these ports long in advance of when we do, especially with TLOU Pt1 i'm certain they knew this was PC too from the start. They already design and build all these games on PCs anyway.
@Loamy That second wind also works in two ways. A new marketing push for PC usually leads to more sales on the original platform.
I do think there is a SMALL possibility it could hold back games in a few areas. But I suspect the gains from having a larger budget, due to more platforms, will far outweigh that.
This is all smart business imo.
@Arnna you have turned a complicated subject, Sony exclusives on PC. To the lowest common denominator.
We are all allowed to speculate including @Flaming_Kaiser and @Shad361
Calling the unenthusiastic about the current climate 'neck beards' whatever that means. Is rude and insulting.
I think this is pretty much true for every 1st party, probably release on ps5 first than a year later PC. I do think that eventually it be same day on both. Live service will definitely release on both on the same day to get the largest audience possible.
@themightyant ahh, but at that point, you've just added another console to the equation. I do wonder if Valve have played Game Dev Tycoon and are moving towards the next logical step: developing your own console.
They could pull it off, as we've seen with the Deck, but it'll be Valve to a T, so very rough around the edges.
@MattBoothDev I doubt they would pitch it as a console, so as not to ruffle feathers, but I can see it happening and being brilliant. Steam Deck, which you can already dock into a TV like Switch, is the template. This would just be much higher powered console-like device.
i.e. play on my Steam machine on my TV, pick up my Steam Deck and play on the go. Obviously PC too. Possibly a streaming service to play on mobile etc. or partner with an existing one. One complete ecosystem. None of that is a massive leap imho.
As for 'rough around the edges', have you got a Deck? I've been SUPER impressed how user friendly it is. Not QUITE console level, but not far off, far closer to console than a PC. And then there are more options to tweak IF you want it, but it's not 100% necessary.
EDIT: Again IF that happened, AND Sony thought it was cannibalising their own model, they might need to rethink PC releases but for now it's all good imho. But I don't think Day 1 PC releases is good business except in a few cases.
@TrickyDicky99 Well. Plenty of people defended price increases because of inflation. So...really don't get a complaints.
PC is different market and they need to price their games competitively.
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@Nepp67 No, quite the opposite, as one MEME said:
"So you thought our goal was converting Playstation games to PC?
It was actually converting PC gamers to PlayStation..
Great... Every game should have a PC option in my book.
Give me the option to pick what I buy based on what version I think is best (and price) when I go play it.
Sometimes PS wins, sometimes PC wins.
PS5 Future looks bright wehen the top first party studio of your own platform want to develop multiplatform from now on.
@lindos I’m not 100% certain, but I believe Steam releases the numbers on the average tech that is used, it’s not high end either.
@EhronLocke I was speaking for myself and my friends where money isn’t much of an issue.
I bought 3 PS4s, 2 PSVRs, and 2 PS5s for me and my family over the last 10 years. I truly have no idea how much I’ve spent on games.
If I move to PC, Sony will lose out on hardware sales, and a ***** ton of PlayStation store sales that my family and I make. Remember, Sony makes money on ever single purchase made in the PS Store as well including mtxs and dlc. So, if I move to PC they will miss out on me buying Assassin’s Creed for example. My friends are the same way as myself.
Heck, Sony may not care, but they EASILY stand to lose 10000s of thousands of dollars bare minimum just on us with the direction they are pushing us.
I'm really worried about the sustainability of the games industry. Here is the recipe for the upcoming meltdown:
And here is the canary in the coal mine: super long development cycles with multiples delays that still result in bug riddled games. What gives?
As long as the PC versions never cause the PS5 versions to run worse or be delayed, I have no opinion.
Naughty dog are very good at what they do. I'm a PC gamer to if naughty dog needs time to sort this game out I'm cool with that. There will be a lot of people that'll have no issue.
Those will be with overkill set ups.
The budget builders might not have a good experience. I've a amd a10 with an rx590 my old gaming PC first time I started uncharted the CPU wasn't listed as compatible.
It is now a few months later
I've a main gaming PC an i7 gt3060ti played no bother.
There will be an update that will sort all of this out.
So many different PC set ups , console all the same.
This game will run better than on ps5 when done right.
As long as there's a good pic I can play a game I don't care if it's 480p or 1080p this 4k meh il take it or leave it very little difference between 1080p and 4k if ya ask me. But hey I used old crt tvs most of my life and XP 😂
PC version is much cheaper, has mod support, doesn't require payment for online and can even be pirated and yet PS/Naughty Dog feels the need to the do this?
Way to make the PS5 even more valueless than it already is, doesn't help that it barely has any true exclusives anymore. It's almost as if they WANT us to buy a PC.
Now I see why so many PS gamers dislike Jim/Herman and wants to see them out of office.
@themightyant regrettably I haven't even _seen_a Deck in person!
I honestly think the issue of day one releases is down to resourcing, pure and simple. Their studios are used to shipping on one ecosystem. Sony would need to commit extra resources to s day one releases for PC too.
if you thought the PS4 was holding back PS5 games, imagine how much a GTX 1060 paired with a low tier processor is going to hold it back
(Spoiler - it's not, because that's not how "holding back games" works. It's fun to imagine people losing their minds over it though)
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