It seems like a The Last of Us 2 PC release may be in the works. A job listing on Naughty Dog’s website is specifically seeking out a programmer with PC experience for The Last of Us 2 as well as someone who knows their way around DirectX 12, Vulkan and NVIDIA GPUs.
That last point is important, as NVIDIA hardware has never been used in the PlayStation family of consoles before. The PlayStation 5 (and Microsoft’s Xbox Series X) have already confirmed another AMD chipset for the next generation, so it’s not for a port either. The only logical reason a Last of Us 2 programmer would need those type of skills is if Ellie was heading to home rigs everywhere.
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For those curious, here’s the full list of what Naughty Dog is looking for to help Ellie to destinations unknown:
- Bachelor’s Degree in Computer Science or equivalent work experience
- Strong math skills with an emphasis in 3D math
- Strong knowledge of C and C++ programming languages
- Thorough understanding of current GPU architectures (AMD GCN, NVIDIA CUDA)
- Experience with DirectX 12, Vulkan or other modern graphics or compute APIs
- Experience with HLSL/GLSL or other equivalent shader languages
- Console or PC programming experience
- Passion for playing and developing exceptional games
As alluded to earlier, this isn’t the first time that Sony’s exclusive lineup sought out a second home outside the console space. Hideo Kojima’s Death Stranding already has a PC release lined up later this year, and rumors swirled last week about Horizon Zero Dawn joining the fun. All that plus Sony’s announcement that their MLB: The Show franchise was going multiplatform in order to keep the higherups at America’s pastime happy. It all starts to paint a picture of a company willing to go toe to toe with their main rival’s expansive multiplatform plans as the next generation begins.
Will Last of Us 2 hit PC day and date with its PlayStation debut? Almost certainly not, but it could happen. It will probably stick to its home platform for a while if tradition is any indication, although we are treading some pretty weird waters across the board this year.
With rumors of an Xbox that can run PC games natively and a new Nintendo handheld, Sony’s plan seems to be one that retains a console identity while still shifting to a content-first outlook. Consoles aren’t dying, but it’s hard to see huge productions like Last of Us 2 staying exclusive for long.
