The Last of Us Part 1 got its long-awaited PC release. Originally released exclusively for the PS5, Sony has changed tunes on their exclusives in the past few years and is now giving some select titles proper PC ports. A new audience to enjoy one of the most acclaimed stories of all time, for both fans and newcomers eager to step into the apocalypse world. Unfortunately, the PC release has been, well, disastrous. The Steam reviews alone right now say it all with a mostly negative score. Players are experiencing a near hour or more wait time just for the shaders to load. There’s crashing at every corner making, stuttering and pop-ins through cutscenes and regular gameplay. The textures fitted at the lowest quality make Joel look terrifying. Simply put, the game is a mess. The game isn’t any better on Steam Deck for which it’s got the green verification check to play on. 

Naughty Dog has sent out at a statement on Twitter in which they write, “we’ve heard your concerns, and our team is actively investigating multiple issues you’ve reported.”

The Last of Us Part I PC players: we’ve heard your concerns, and our team is actively investigating multiple issues you’ve reported.

We will continue to update you, but our team is prioritizing updates and will address issues in upcoming patches.

— Naughty Dog (@Naughty_Dog) March 28, 2023

While gamers are furious that another PC port seems to be shoddily released, that furor isn’t being directed so much at Naughty Dog. Rather, people are frustrated with Iron Galaxy Studios who ported The Last of Us Part 1, as well as other titles such as, Uncharted: Legacy of Thieves Collection, Metroid Prime Remastered, and the infamous PC port Batman Arkham Knight. While Uncharted and Metroid Prime were ported without any issues, the Batman Arkham Knight port to PC remains infamous for how long it took to be fixed, where at one point the Windows version was entirely removed for sale. What’s entirely confusing about some of this though, is way back in 2021 Sony bought Nixxes Studio for the sole purpose of bringing PlayStation titles over to PC. It’s unclear why they used another studio who have faced problems before bringing console games to PC. 

PC gamers have gotten the short end of the stick unfortunately when it comes to PC port titles. Just last year when Elden Ring released, there was collective praise coming from those on console, but on PC it was mired with performance issues. Those have since been resolved, but it’s just one of many PC ports that have suffered from game-breaking issues.