A seemingly inconsequential job listing sparked fan speculation that the next PlayStation game Sony intends to port to PC is Ratchet and Clank: Rift Apart. This development arrives mere weeks ahead of the highly anticipated PC release of The Last of Us Part 1, which is scheduled to launch in late March.
Released in mid-2021 for the PlayStation 5, Ratchet and Clank: Rift Apart started development before the PS5 was even announced and was already in the works while Sony was negotiating its 2019 acquisition of Insomniac Games. All previous installments in the Ratchet and Clank franchise were second-party PlayStation exclusives, developed by a then-independent Insomniac, but with Sony reserving the ownership of the IP itself. Ironically, after the studio became a first-party developer, the chances of a mainline Ratchet and Clank game beyond the PlayStation ecosystem actually improved due to its new parent's subsequent decision to start bringing some of its exclusives to Windows, starting with the PC port of Horizon Zero Dawn in 2020.
The reason why Rift Apart is now rumored to be joining that growing list of multi-platform games comes down to a recent job listing from Nixxes Software, a Dutch company Sony acquired specifically for facilitating PlayStation PC ports. The posting for a UI and UX designer discovered by Reddit user Veloxz doesn't mention the latest mainline Ratchet and Clank installment by name, but it does call for a candidate with experience in using middleware software from Coherent Labs. While Rift Apart is not the only game made by a current PlayStation Studios subsidiary that uses Coherent-made UI tech—there's also Nex Machina from Finnish studio Housemarque—it is the only title fitting that criteria without a PC port. So, assuming Nixxes hasn't strayed away from its recently stated goal of bringing first-party PlayStation exclusives to Windows, this listing seems to imply that a PC port of Ratchet and Clank: Rift Apart might be on the horizon.
A hypothetical port of Ratchet and Clank: Rift Apart would be a safe way for Sony to maintain interest in the franchise with minimal investments. The previous game sold over 1.1 million copies in its first five weeks on the market, so while the series is certainly not lacking in fandom, it's also unlikely to receive a full-fledged sequel anytime soon.
Namely, even though Insomniac had a 400-strong workforce as of 2021, that headcount doesn't seem particularly large for a studio that's currently working on two AAA projects in the form of Marvel's Spider-Man 2 and the possibly M-rated Marvel's Wolverine. Given that state of affairs, it seems implausible that the Burbank, California-based company currently has a third game in active development, meaning a PC port of Rift Apart is likely the only thing Ratchet and Clank fans can realistically hope for in the foreseeable future.
Ratchet and Clank: Rift Apart is available now on the PlayStation 5.
Source: Coherent Labs, SIE