The Last of Us Part 1 isn't Steam Deck Verified, as Valve downgrades the PC port and Naughty Dog pledges patches and fixes ahead of verification for the handheld device.
Last week saw The Last of Us Part 1 finally arrive on PC, to incredibly negative fan responses. The port was dubbed "a technical disaster" from Steam reviewers for its litany of performance issues, with Naughty Dog apologizing and pledging to investigate the various issues.
Now though, Naughty Dog is putting patches and fixes before submitting The Last of Us Part 1 for Steam Deck Verification. As per the tweets from the developer below yesterday on April 3, fixing the game is of far more importance to Naughty Dog than getting a broken game working for Steam Deck users.
And while we know many of you would like to play The Last of Us Part I on Steam Deck, we are prioritizing fixes and patches before submitting it for verification.We will keep you updated of its Steam Deck status as we continue to improve the PC version.April 3, 2023
Additionally, it seems even Valve has taken umbrage with the PC port. According to the Steam Deck screenshot below, Valve considers The Last of Us Part 1 on Steam Deck to be entirely "unsupported," but is actively looking into ways to improve the game's Steam Deck support.
Just Now: Valve has considered The Last of Us: Part I for the Steam Deck “unsupported”, stating the company is working on improvements. pic.twitter.com/bnu2koEBy6April 3, 2023
This is all even more disappointing considering Naughty Dog stated The Last of Us Part 1 would be Steam Deck compatible all the way back in December 2022. Naughty Dog co-president Neil Druckmann put speculation about the PC port to rest at the time via his personal Twitter account, so there's no wonder PC players are now thinking of this as a bit of a broken promise.
The Last of Us Part 1 did receive a rapid PC patch last week after launch, and Naughty Dog has pledged to release a "larger patch" this week at some point. Here's hoping the developer can turn things around for the PC version, before finally making good on their Steam Deck pledge from last year.
Despite this fumbled launch, Naughty Dog has pledged to make more PC games in the future.
