Throughout the years I’ve always been a mix between a PC master race king and a console peasant. Growing up my computers typically weren’t the best, and I had to rely on consoles to have the power required to run most games. Recently I’ve finally had enough money to get some decent graphics cards around the house and thus I’ve put a huge amount of time into gaming on my PC. For a while it was pretty much unanimous that PC’s were the premier experience for games. They delivered better FPS and better overall performance, AND were upgradable compared to their console counterparts. But right now PC gaming is in a weird sort of limbo, as port after port continues to be utter disasters. This latest The Last of Us port is no exception. Ridden with glitches, stutters, bugs, and every performance issue under the sun, it really struck a nerve with the community after Naughty Dog already delayed the release for a while to ensure a quality product on release. Obviously this delay didn’t work, and fans have been quick to accuse the studio of trying to push out this port way too quickly thanks to the success of the HBO live action adaptation of the game reigniting its popularity.
Ellie, Ellie did you take your meds? You know you need your multivitamins to fight the infected!
While that theory is entirely possible, I’ve noticed this same story being told over and over again among players online and my own friend group. Forspoken, Wild Hearts, Hogwarts Legacy, and now The Last of Us were all immensely popular releases, and likewise their PC counterparts were all criticized heavily for a lack of polish. They performed better on console, at least upon initial release, to the point where buying the game for PC seemed like the “downgrade” option. I should be clear that PC ports have had a long history of being unreliable, but it seems like recent games are hitting new lows with just how broken the ports can be. But why are these PC versions so shit, if the master race has much better tech specs across the board? Personally I think it’s because of the standardization of components. A PS5 is a PS5. Developers can create their game with the exact components and capabilities in mind without fear for variety. Now enter my PC which I legitimately use to play Genshin Impact… with my GTX 750 Ti from almost ten fucking years ago. Outside of a few stutters in demanding areas, it runs the shit fine too on low settings. And so, I continue to not upgrade. But imagine trying to account for all the different processors, hard drives, graphics cards, memory sticks, and power supplies that are out there on the market. I’ve never developed a game myself so maybe it’s not as much of a challenge as I’d imagine, but clearly something about this process has been thrown off track with how many shitty ports are being released, whether that be failure due to bad corporate planning, burnout due to crunch, or just the raw difficulty of bringing these games to the PC platform.
Joel, you are on VERY thin ice here .
One thing is for sure, I still plan to keep my PS5 and PC alive and ready to go at a moment’s notice to play titles. Putting all your eggs in one basket never seemed like a very smart idea. Is this The Last of Us port a new low? Are PC ports becoming increasingly lousy lately? Do you play console ports, or just play them on their original devices? Strap on your rifle, shoot some zombies, and remember to shave Ellie’s distractingly bushy eyebrows in the comments below!
