Exclusivity is still a topic that many people debate about in the video game industry. That topic is driving Microsoft and Sony to war over the latter’s potential acquisition of Activision Blizzard. Some people are fine with exclusivity because it helps give each console its “own flavor” and drives people to try and get all the systems to get all the great games that are out there. However, that’s impossible for everyone, and so many people haven’t played some of the best titles. Naughty Dog has been helping bridge that gap on the Sony side, and they seem to indicate that they will keep doing it.
This comes from a blog post that the dev team did when they launched The Last of Us Part 1 on PC. Sony has been doing lots of work to bring their 1st-party exclusives from PS5, and even PS4, to the PC so that more people can experience the game. Uncharted already debuted on PC via a certain collection, and yesterday, they brought their beloved classic to PC. In that blog post, they cited that they’ve enjoyed bringing their games to PC, and they want to keep doing that:
“Developing for both [PC and PlayStation] empowers us to incorporate lessons learned from either into the overall design of our games”, Naughty Dog noted. “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.”
While that is vague, it indicates that the team will be working on the PS5 and PC versions of games simultaneously. Of course, that’s not to say that the PC version will release alongside the PS5, but you can’t discount it. If nothing else, they could do a timed release so that the PS5 has its day in the spotlight, and then the PC will get its time later.
The irony of this statement is that their recent PC release hasn’t gone off without a hitch. Many gamers have had issues with the port, and they’ve recently released a hotfix to try and stem some of these issues. Also, when they brought Nathan Drake to PC, the sales numbers weren’t as grand as some of the other Sony PC ports.
That’s not to say they shouldn’t do the PC ports, as it is a grand market. But it shows that even the best developers must ensure they optimize things properly.
