'The Last Of Us Part 2' Job Listing Sparks PC Release Rumours

Could Naughty Dog have plans to bring The Last Of Us Part 2 to PC? That seems like a slightly bananas question to ask... but a recent job listing posted by the developer certainly seems to have got people thinking that it's a possibility.

The PlayStation-exclusive developer shared a job listing for a graphics programmer, with the 'Requirements & Skills' section of the listing making multiple references to PC. The successful candidate would be part of Naughty Dog's rendering team, and display a "thorough understanding of current GPU architectures" including NVIDIA CUDA and AMD GCN. Knowledge of DirectX12 and Vulkan is also desired.

The Last of Us Part II

As various curious fans have pointed out, many of these requirements don't actually relate to the PS4 at all. They don't even relate to the PS5, at least based on what we know about the upcoming console's architecture so far.

The PS4 and its successor both use AMD graphics tech, not in NVIDIA. DirectX12, meanwhile, "enables developers to add amazing graphics effects to Microsoft Windows-based PC game," according to its official description. Nothing to do with console gaming, then.

There's every chance that Naughty Dog is simply looking for a candidate with a wider range of experience, but it's struck a lot of people as a little odd that a listing for a PlayStation game references APIs and a GPU that don't appear in a PlayStation. Stranger still, Naughty Dog has also listed "PC programming experience" alongside console experience. What does it all mean?

Sony

It certainly looks like The Last Of Us Part 2 could be coming to PC then, but I'm not so sure. Naughty Dog's post-apocalyptic adventure is set to the be the last truly massive PS4 exclusive, after all - maybe even the biggest exclusive of this generation. I'm not saying the game could never come to PC, but I really don't see it happening anytime soon.

Then again, just look at Horizon Zero Dawn. The PS4-exclusive open world epic was one of the biggest games of 2017, and a huge new IP for Sony. If recent reports are to be believed, the game is making its way to PC this year with a number of PC-specific enhancements.

While Death Stranding and a handful of Quantic Dream games have all made the jump, or are about to make the jump, from PlayStation to PC, Horizon Zero Dawn would be the first exclusive from a Sony-owned studio to do so. Maybe The Last Of Us Part 2 hitting PC in a few years isn't so outlandish after all?