
Naughty Dog deserves a standing ovation for somehow managing to cock up the PC port of one of the greatest games ever made. The developer – a symbol of consistency for many years – has dished up one of the most disastrous releases in recent memory with The Last of Us: Part I, and all on the back of a ridiculously successful transmedia push as well.
Currently, the conversion is rocking a 56 critics score on Metacritic, making it the Californian developer’s worst reviewed game in modern history. In fact, it’s so bad that it’s a full 20 (!!!) points less than the studio’s next lowest reviewed game, Jak X: Combat Racing on PS2. (Which was pretty good, by the way!)
Now obviously the studio started out on systems like 3DO, so it’s likely titles such as Way of the Warrior would have even worse reviews than this PC port if they were tracked. But you’d also have to go back almost 30 years to find them, which perhaps helps demonstrate just what a stain this is on Naughty Dog’s record. To its credit, it’s rolling out hotfixes pretty fast – but the developer seriously f*cked this one up!
[source metacritic.com]
Comments 80
This definitely going to have a lasting impact on their PC games going forward, and probably even bring up the question of "Is releasing PC games worth it?"
Between a chuck of their games releasing in poor messes and poor sales. This may end up being the Last of PC games
Was it worth it? Also the new Multiplattform approach will likely increase the development time for new games from ND...
Lesson learnt, keep your games as full playstation exclusives.
A delay would have gone over better.
Probably an executive decision to stick to the date. Hopefully they learn from this.
Honestly happy to see ND's Last of Us series brought down a peg.
@BeerIsAwesome I wouldn’t say everybody. There are quite a lot of fans of it. The combat was fantastic. I had a blast playing as Ellie. But the story was lacking for sure. I didn’t like the beginning, that’s for sure haha
Is it PlayStation angst Friday or something?
@CWill97 I am actually one of those fans. Last of Us Part 2 was actually very enjoyable, but it helps that I wasn't emotionally attached to Joel character due to not really caring for the first. But I will say enjoying Part 2 has made me enjoy Part 1 a lot more.
This is going to affect their metacritic publisher averages next years (not that those rankings mean anything but fans love to brag about them and news outlets to report on them.)
Naughty dog didnt do the port it was iron galaxy right
It’s extremely weird that anyone thinks this is any sort of evidence that Sony needs to stop their PC ports…. There is another article here talking about how popular the game is despite the reception.
All this means is: stop giving contracts to Iron Galaxy!!! These are the same guys that made the horrendous Arkham Knight PC port!
They HAD one delay for the PC version, and still had issues with the release. Looks like they needed more delays, even if that meant they missed the HBO window. I'm sure that had a lot to do with pushing it out the door before it was ready - but while the attention was still on the miniseries.
Looks like the developers (and perhaps more importantly, their marketing teams and bosses) still haven't learned that the bad press from a delay is probably better than the bad press from a buggy launch.
A bad port = bad reviews. That's just the way it goes.
As it should be in all honesty. I genuinely wish all games that release with notable technical problems were held to the same standard.
A game with technical problems should not be getting a 9 or 10 ever....
Doesn't mean it can't be reevaluated later, but don't do the bidding of the shareholders and promote an unfinished or unpolished project/deceive your supporters (speaking generally)
@Tharsman You can argue stop giving contacts to Iron galaxy. But they had made several very good ports. Spyro Reignited Trilogy and Crash Bandicoot N Sane for PC. They were also responsible for Overwatch and Diablo 3 on the switch.
So to blacklist a company over 1 or 2 games is not something you want to do.
It is pretty shocking. Regardless of how people feel about their games they almost always released in a very polished state for the most part. Sure part of the blame does lie with Iron Galaxy but The Last of Us is Naughty Dog's golden goose. It's shocking to see them allow it to launch in a state like this.
@Somebody this was the result of the game having already been delayed 😑
@AverageGamer Give it some thought and you will find a huge difference between Spyro and The Last of Us.
Uncharted PC port was also bashed quite a bit over other technical issues. If they going to keep messing up Sony's reputation, Sony should stop giving them contract. By all mean, give them contracts to port more cartoony games or port games to the Switch.
Taking lessons from CD Projekt Red on how to mess up a dedicated fan base.
Proves how ND is an overrated developer.
@Tharsman Sure we can't compare "cartoony" games to ULTRA REALISTC games like Last of Us. But the point stands that we shouldn't just blacklist a studio.
I mean, all of Sony's PC game has been bashed for technical issue. Even Spider-Man on PC had major issues and required multiple patches, and that was done by Nixxes.
EDIT: The only person ruin Sony's reputation is themselves
Just play it on ps3, the system it was designed for. Where the story was first told and had us in love
@JayJ
Iron Galaxy did most the port. Same with Rockstar, another company do the ports while they work on larger projects.
But their port of Metroid Prime to the switch is really good
Based on 6 critic reviews according to that image, maybe should wait for a few more to come in.
@AverageGamer not "we", Sony. Sony should black list them. It takes one single bad contract for most companies to black list a contractor, especially when their work makes them look bad. But I know this does not play with your "the solution is to stop PC ports" narrative (something that should they decide to do would mean the same: no more contract work for Iron Galaxy.)
The game shouldn’t be on pc to begin with so I don’t feel bad for Sony or pc gamers
@Tharsman Who said that my narrative is "the solution is to stop PC ports". As TBH I only play these Sony/PlayStation games because they are on PC. My PS5 is a fancy paperweight I just keep around to say, "I have one". My main platform is PC.
Also, no, Sony stopping PC port doesn't mean the end of contract work for Iron Galaxy. Iron Galaxy have trying to branch more into OG work and given the weird relation that Iron Galaxy has with Sony. Adam Boyes is the current CEO for the company. I don't them not working together more in the future.
Joel is really having his Craig moment here.
@BeerIsAwesome Yeah it can't be denied that The Last of Us 2 has good gameplay. All the negatively always comes from the plot but it's not just because of "muh Joel" lol. The plot itself just isn't done very well including the ending and whole theme of revenge.
The whole ending and theme imo just is laughable if you ask me. Ellie decides to give up on revenge, that it's wrong, after going on a whole massacre and even killing a pregnant woman lol. It takes towards the end of the game for her to realise it's a vicious cycle.
Also I do get the criticism towards Abby's design. She's literally the only muscular character in the whole franchise. I don't think working out in a gym would be a priority in a post apocalyptic world. It just seems odd especially when she's the only one of that build lol.
I think both Last of Us games are overrated anyway.
this is entirely sony's fault for putting iron galaxy on the port. why on earth did they mistreat (arguably) their most beloved game and ip? they purchased nixxes precisely to avoid this nonsense. maybe nixxes is working on something else, but the question still remains: what was sony thinking? less knowledable people are quick to blame nighty dog for this mess, but in reality i doubt naughty dog had anything to do with the port other than an advisory role — sony likely rushed this out the door to capitalize on the conclusion of the tv show.
@JayJ nd didn't work on the pc port. feel free to blame iron galaxy, though.
@Rmg0731 correct. just goes to show how little understanding most people have of this issue. people are ready to harass nd again but instead they should go after sony and iron galaxy. had sony put nixxes on this port (no reason why they shouldn't have), this would likely be a banger release.
Some humble-pie for Naughty Dog. Let's hope they learn from this failure, and fix this port as soon as possible. I'm sure they will, they're a talented bunch.
@Porco Naughty Dog worked on the port as well. It wasn't just Iron Galaxy or Sony. ND did extensive work on it after Iron Galaxy, and even still, The Last of Us Part 1 was released in a broken state.
It's stated in very many sources that both studios worked as a team to port the game, and Sony released it, so ND is as to blame as any party. But people obviously expect more from Naughty Dog.
Some people are really huffing the copium. There's no reason to think this would put them off PC game development, lol.
@Constable_What that is up for debate. everything i have read states iron galaxy is the core developer of the pc port... sure, nd may have consulted or even got their hands dirty to some extent, but to me it sounds like the bulk of the work was by iron galaxy. the final call was sony at the end of the day and they just couldn't help themselves i suppose. i would never hold nd accountable because we all know how much of perfectionists they are, especially with the last of us. this was pressure from the top with incompetence from iron galaxy sprinkled in.
Well, that just put in evidence that the usual "PC discerning gamer" has got a quite old ring unable to run a port and if it's given for free is better than pay for it, perhaps $10 is acceptable... remember all the bad reviews of Callisto Protocol and Forspoken?, mainly from PC gamers, they are so miserable that they cannot accept that they lack of the proper hardware, the dedication to tweak their ring in Windows, and the monies to pay... remember Forbidden West?, the fiasco at the beginning?, it took 6 months to be in proper form to play in PS5... did you hear everywhere how crappy it was?, no you did not because it was not released in PC... so any bloody game coming from PS5 to PC is a mess, either the bad porting or else, but no PC gamer want to admit that they have got crappy rings...
People concerned about PC getting TLOU when they should be concerned that PS5's library is all just PS4 ports and like 5 noteworthy actual next-gen titles.
Bad game gets bad port. What a shock.
@UltimateOtaku91 at least a PC port should be playable on one properly handheld device with proper buttons these days. Being "PlayStation exclusive" in Gen 9 largely means requiring free time to spend in the living room like it's Gen 6 all over again.
@Tharsman Iron Galaxy has also brought Skyrim, Diablo 3, Overwatch and recently Metroid Prime over to Switch, a machine supposedly more constrained in specs. SNAFUs happen.
Maybe it's best if those complaining just use RPCS3 or actually just buy a PlayStation.
@Phornix
Wow you really didnt get the game at all and you dont understand ending.
She found inner peace before killing in end.
She didnt know woman was pregnant.
You should play a stealth, you can finish game by killing around 20 enemies.
@Phornix prefix this with you're obviously not a fan of the series which is of course completely fine.
I don't really understand the issue people take with Ellie doesn't kill her in the end plot. Context is everything by the end of the game you've destroyed and eradicated everything you loved and you meet finally reach Abbey who is also near death and the realization of it wasn't worth it is not abstract. If you kill one person you don't have to go kill another to make it "worth it" because it's all just gratuitous violence that ends in nothing but pain. That's the message. Neither character is redeemed and there is no redemption. Joel killed everyone in the hospital and didn't stop, Abbey then set out to kill Joel which caused a new cycle of violence with Ellie. None of them were right or justified other then when viewed from their own selfish motivations and that the change up in perspective. I agree the games are not ultra realistic but not doing killing someone because you already killed others is not that far fetched.
Love to see it, in the future Sony's game development will take longer and the quality will drop, Because they must spend extra time and resources to make PC ports.
@BeerIsAwesome everybody? I quite liked part 2 a lot.
@jrt87 Absoutely disagree with you. Dude thought he was writting a game of the year contender for one of the best reviewed and awarded games of our time and was proved correct.
The fact that a bunch of kids who think good writting is a marvel comic book couldn't handle the issues being explored is not his problem..
@Titntin "The fact that a bunch of kids who think good writting is a marvel comic book..."
I hope you don't mind but I'll be stealing that line from you.
It's so effin true for a lot of people.
@Shepherd_Tallon Your welcome my freind. 😁
I considered if I were being too harsh or not, because there are some who have genuine issues and I accept we are all different. But so much of the dialog around this title was from those who seem to fit that description, or those with hate in their hearts for any representation for anyone 'different'. Its hard to listen to genuine concerns with tolerence when 99% of complainers seemed to fit one of those groups..
@jrt87 or, you know. They hold a different view. Crazy, I know. But no! Must be mental gymnastics to disagree with you.
Some people...
@Titntin No I know what you mean.
Personally I try to always put myself in the shoes of folk that I disagree with. These are the people we have the best discussions with. But a lot of the negativity that we heard about TLoU II seemed to boil down to either, "I didn't want that to happen" or some kind of an assumption that was made about one of the characters based on leaks the week before launch.
Not enjoying the story is perfectly fine. I'd say it's okay to even be upset with how a story turns out if you don't like it. I have no problem with that. I've experienced this myself in the past - Sometimes the narrative beats just don't hit the right notes and you end up disappointed or bouncing off of something.
But when people declare that a well written narrative is objectively bad rather than subjectively bad I tend to tune out of the discussion.
People rave about games like Metal Gear or shows like Dr. Who, but I just don't get either of them. They're not for me. It doesn't mean they're bad. They're just not for me.
(Of course in the case of this particular port it was just a buggy mess.)
@Greifchen
We call this "TRASH" in the English Dictionary. Horrendous and unexceptable..
Why is gaming the ONLY industry where we do not have quality control? or even a governing body, to prevent garbage being released?
Every other industry has standards, except our industry! Imagine a car not being able to start, or cut off after driving 20 miles and you having to have to get it fixed ('patched') in order for it to run?
UTTER TRASH!!
@Sakisa "Bad game"
you forgot to take your meds today?
Tharsman wrote:
They're just projecting because they are scared of change, want to keep their ecosystem closed, and can't see the obvious benefits to SOME (not all) games going to PC or other platforms.
@Titntin looking at my book shelves at the joyces,huxleys,anton wilson and hunter.s.thompson and then i get to garth ennis,morrison etc 🤣
@4kgk2 money is a thing in the industry, and its totally EFFED up everything!!
@Shepherd_Tallon the voice of reason right here. Wish I could "super like" your post. It's the epitome of everything I stand for when it comes to discussions online (and irl).
@MakersMark calling it "trash" is typical exaggeration. Unless your trash is that great.
@stinkyx "that part" i tell my friends "yall playing 98 percent of your ps4 library on a ps5 that's been out for over 2.5 years and no defining game that screams "I NEED TO GET THIS CONSOLE NOW!!"
what black magic does Sony have on gamers?
aside from "faster loading times" "better graphics" What NEW games are yall out there playing ? im curious.. Its just uber weird to me at this point.. People can do what they want .. bless your souls...
The last of cyberpunk 2077
I really don't understand why Naughty or any other Sony first party developer thinks its exceptable to put games on PC in that sort of state.
Pc is extra income so why not put the love in care into the ports. Not a half arse effort.
This really degrades Naughty Dogs ability in my eyes, they new how bad it was and still released.
Unacceptable. Period.
Wow wasting resources that should have gotten to Playstation players. Here we are begging for any showcase to update the state of Sonys first party studios and they pour all that resources to these basement dwelling virgins and fail even at that.
Pc gamers have been horrible ports as of late. They what they pay for lol. Pirating, making early access games the norm, not supporting devs.
@MakersMark “ Imagine a car not being able to start, or cut off after driving 20 miles and you having to have to get it fixed ('patched') in order for it to run?”
So basically a Ford /s
@Savage_Joe here are a bunch of links confirming iron galaxy's involvement:
https://www.thegamer.com/the-last-of-us-part-1-pc-port-unplayable-iron-galaxy-expected/
https://www.dualshockers.com/the-last-of-us-part-1-remake-pc-port-by-iron-galaxy/
https://wccftech.com/last-of-us-pc-port-iron-galaxy-pc-specs-lowered/
https://me.ign.com/en/pc/206744/news/naughty-dog-releases-first-patch-for-the-last-of-us-part-1-on-pc
on some websites, they simply list ND since they left the credits the same as the ps5 version and didn't do their homework. but it is common for the main developer to NOT get as involved with the pc port outside of a few exceptions of course.
@nhSnork porting to the switch is not the same than porting to PC with varying specs. Snafus happen, but they happen a lot to Iron Galaxy when porting demanding games to PC.
@themightyant as far as I care all their games can go to PC, hell, even day one. I still will play them on my PS5, same way Xbox owners play their games on Xbox despite them all being also on PC.
Someone's a little grouchy today. As I recall, Horizon launched on PC in a similarly rough state but was patched up. Sackboy still gets new build releases. Most PC titles get major updates. I'm not saying you're wrong about the quality, but take it down a notch. Naughty Dog didn't smite you personally.
@Tharsman Sony would be shooting themselves in the foot to allow most games Day 1 on PC for several reasons.
1) It will incentivise SOME people to go PC only. You may not be one of them, but some will.
2) Sony make most of their money from their PSN store. It is their golden goose and the only reason they can even remotely compete. They need to keep people on their store, right now that means PS5.
3) Microsoft and Sony are different. If gamers play on PC Microsoft still win big, it is MICROSOFT Windows after all. They lock you into their systems either way. While Xbox may not benefit as much other areas of Microsofts business would instead. Sony doesn't have the same connection with PC, it isn't their OS. Many people forget/ignore this.
4) All it would take is for Steam (or Tencent, etc.) to create an under the TV console/PC hybrid like the Steam Deck and suddenly you have a platform that plays all Microsoft AND Sony games on a CONSOLE like experience under the TV.
Regardless I feel SOME Sony games, especially multiplayer or live services, will be Day 1 on PC in future, if not cross platform. At this point I expect TLOU Factions 2 (or whatever it is called) to be on PC Day 1.
@themightyant I think every third party game that sells best on PS5 has proven day one pc is not hurting console sales.
On the sony store bit, give it time, a “PlayStation” PC store is almost certainly in the works. Whenever that launches is when I expect day one PC games.
@Tharsman But third party is different. If ALL Sony games were on PC day 1 there would be less incentive to have a PS5, especially for PC owners (many of us play on many platforms). It wouldn't happen overnight, but by the time the next console generation came around many wouldn't buy a PS6. Exclusives ARE important, else I wouldn't want all consoles.
I also expect a PlayStation PC Store at some point. Microsoft is leading the charge with this, getting ahead of regulators, who looked likely to intervene otherwise. But even then that doesn't benefit Sony to the same extent as people will mostly just buy Sony's games on that store, that ISN'T where the bulk of their money comes from, it's third party games and ESPECIALLY microtransactions.
They would be saying goodbye to most of that sweet Fortnite, Genshin etc. MTX and with it a HUGE chunk of their profits, even more so as these are very cheap profits by comparison to making games.
@themightyant
Disregarding everyone else for a minute, I was under the impression you had an Xbox too, and there is no game you can get on Xbox that you can’t get on PC day one. Am I missing something?
As for a Sony PC store, I fully expect such a store to be managed just as they manage PlayStation: plenty of exclusivity third party deals, plus Trophies and PSN integration with free games and the like to encourage their most ardent ecosystem fans to buy on that store first. These are all things that have proven to work for Epic.
@Tharsman Currently I have once great but now a potato PC.
GTX 970, i5 4790k etc. It's almost a decade old and wouldn't run the latest games. When I upgrade, hopefully later this year, that will no longer be the case. Plus there are plenty of games that come to console but not PC. There are other reasons too but this is the main one.
If for example Nintendo games came to PC I likely wouldn't buy a Switch successor, i'd play it all on PC and Steam Deck. If Sony, Xbox and other console games were on PC too I might just spend £2,000+ on a PC and be done with it all.
re: store: Even if Sony had all that most will still buy on Steam, it's so entrenched. Sony would still be giving up a huge slice of their pie.
Would be awful for their bottom line to go day and date on PC. But don't mistake business sense for what I would prefer in a perfect world - which is i'd want all games on everything. But we don't live in a perfect world. Plus exclusives are important to keep platforms strong, which keeps them making great games as an incentive to gamers to play on their platform. Without this would some of these games even exist. (edited for clarity)
@BeerIsAwesome part 2 doesn't exist to me lol.
@themightyant I still have a 970! Covid delaying next-gen kept it viable for high-end games way longer than I expected. Although I'm looking to upgrade to something else soon. Thinking about jumping ship to AMD again like I did with my upgraded Ryzen CPU.
@Ralizah The 970 is still about the power of a PS4 Pro, at least in terms of Teraflops (4.4TF). It has been a great card that has served me well, but it can't handle most of the latest games at decent settings or speeds anymore.
I have no idea which direction I will go yet. I use the PC for work so can go a little nuts, especially on CPU, RAM and SSD, but i'm always looking for a good price to performance sweet spot rather than just going top-end.
As for GPU i'm waiting to see what the 4070, 4060 and 4060 Ti / Super bring later this year vs AMDs offerings and if that is what I want to go for versus a cut price 3000 series model like the 3070 / 3080 / 3090. There are some great prices on those. But will likely want it to last another 10 years of so.
@AverageGamer
More like a Fiat/Chrysler product lol.
Worse then their non-PlayStation era games on GameRankings or MobiGames or something else in comparison anyone remember those? I mean Keef the Thief or Way of the Warrior seem to compete for scores there of 5.9 and 6.6, even Rings of Power did better with a 6.8. https://www.mobygames.com/game/company:1190/sort:moby_score/page:2/
It does seem rough though. With time it will be fixed you'd hope but yeah not the best impression for a port. Either way games need to be judged for sure on technical issues not getting a pass from critics in other areas going 'it's normal or we were paid to skip over them'.
The PC community and reviewers I can see them being more reasonable with reviews and it shows they take things seriously with this score performance and other factors likely it isn't getting a console game review pass.
While console reviews do their thing and some games big games get a pass on performance others don't (of course the console versions are what they are for Last of Us and people that know know how good performance wise they may be).
I thought ND or even the team Sony got for doing PC ports would take more care and I'm not even interested in the game or a PC version but it does make an impact PC ports for sure.
Like it doesn't have a console deadline for financials so what's the rush to make a messy port to PC? The tv show is whatever of ongoing or finished so who cares. Why even try to meet that deadline they beat the tv show by months for the PS5 version so why rush this one.
Otherwise if PC players care they may if not they may move on to other games and not care to fix it instead of a 'fine we will do it ourselves because the company is too lazy to port it well themselves' mindset to fix issues besides modding it like crazy like Spiderman. Besides there is tons of great adventure or survival/horror games on PC to choose from with different impacts then it does for console players. With or without a cinematic/movie like story even appealing to a PC crowd I have no idea.
@themightyant Is there really that many games that come to console and not PC? It certainly used to be the case but outside of Sony and Nintendo's own games, I can't think of too many that don't launch on PC these days.
Perhaps it's just my own taste in games but I can't think of any game over the last few years that I couldn't play on PC, even this year I think Spider-Man 2 is the only game I need my PS5 for
@OrtadragoonX I can't speak on Fiat/Chrysler products. Never own one, only ever own Fords. And my newest 2019 has like 3 recalls jobs on it so far.
What a shocker, a badly released port isn't performing well lol.
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