Amid controversy about the game's performance, PC gamers are being granted Steam refunds for The Last of Us. The PC release of The Last of Us had been anticipated for some time, but gamers haven't been particularly satisfied with the product they've received.
Early days for the game on PC have been rough, to say the least. On launch day, The Last of Us players were reporting hour-long load times before even being able to play the game. With Sony's continuing commitment to bringing its biggest titles to PC, having this happen to one of its flagship franchises is the nightmare scenario. Pre-release, some gamers expressed concern that Iron Galaxy would be handling the port, after it was infamously responsible for the Batman: Arkham Knight PC port disaster. Iron Galaxy was also in charge of the Uncharted: Legacy of Thieves Collection PC port, and many of the issues seen in that title also seem to be plaguing The Last of Us.
The refunds for the game were pointed out in a Reddit thread by user Turbostrider27. While Steam operates a guaranteed refund policy for players with under two hours played in a game no more than two weeks after purchase, there have been high-profile cases in the past where the platform has expanded this. There were similar reports when Cyberpunk 2077 was launched as one of the most notorious video game releases of all time. With The Last of Us being review-bombed on Steam among constant reports of performance problems and glitches, it's no surprise that players want their money back.
With many players now choosing to simply refund their game, hopefully Naughty Dog can take charge of fixing the port in the coming weeks before player spirits get any worse. Naughty Dog has already acknowledged player concerns about The Last of Us on PC, so fixes should be incoming as soon as possible. The studio has already released some small hotfixes, although it doesn't appear to have massively solved the bulk of the issues which seem to be bigger tasks to solve.
It's a shame that it has come to this. The critical success of The Last of Us TV show helped build a huge amount of hype for the release, with many ready to experience Joel and Ellie's story in video game form for the first time. Naughty Dog's decision to delay The Last of Us on PC by a month seemed to be a good sign that the studio was committed to getting it right. Many gamers may now see that delay as attempted damage control, with speculation rampant about what state the game would have launched in without a delay.
The Last of Us Part 1 is available on PC and PS5.