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Why Do PC Ports Suck So Bad These Days?

Why Do PC Ports Suck So Bad These Days?

We’ve established that PC ports of popular games have been quite an issue in the last few years, yes? Batman: Arkham Knight , Disgaea , Tales of Symphonia , and Mortal Kombat X are among the most notorious. These games all suffered from extraordinarily terrible issues at launch. Some crippling and debilitating, others not, but all of them should have been caught during the porting process. You’d have thought that, after so many issues in a row, we’d reached a low point and things would get better. Nope!

Anyone who’s picked up some other recent PC ports will be more than happy, or rather unhappy, to report that this is still an issue. Instead of developers and publishers deciding to take extra care to ensure these porting problems are resolved, it seems like the lackadaisical problems keep coming. The PC versions of both No Man’s Sky and Bioshock: The Collection prove it. Despite having plenty of time to avert disaster and being from companies that were previously involved in the PC port crisis, both games managed to launch with an array of issues that tarnish the experience on a platform that should offer versions that are at the very least equal to, if not occasionally superior to, consoles.

Let’s start with No Man’s Sky , since its issues appeared first. Also, because it seemed to have the most problems. Some of the most prevalent issues with this version of the game had to do with graphics and performance. Some people experienced poor field of view, low resolutions, and blurry visuals. When you have a game that relies on its pretty landscapes, you better make sure it looks amazing at launch. Hello Games didn’t do that.

It also didn’t make sure No Man’s Sky played as well as it could. The framerate was as steady as someone running blindfolded across a frozen pond. You were lucky if it was just low, because at least then it was consistent. Better than it jumping around between standard and low framerates. Combine that with a tendency to sometimes get stuck on environmental elements, needing a grenade or jetpack to dislodge, and keybindings that might not work, and you’ve got an exercise in frustration.

Also, No Man’s Sky would crash. Because what’s a bad PC port without crashes?

Why Do PC Ports Suck So Bad These Days?

With Bioshock Collection , you don’t expect problems. The games are already on PC, and work. You’d think everything would be set, but it isn’t. The lack of options available to adjust your experience are startling, as all you can do is adjust the anisotropic filtering, anti-aliasing, resolution, and vysync. I don’t know if we can even count resolution, as the ones available aren’t very comprehensive. There are no sound options, you can’t tweak shadows and textures. There are stuttering and mouse smoothing issues as well, things you won’t experience before the remaster upgrade. At this point, it almost makes you wonder why anyone even bothered with the Bioshock Collection PC update.

Also, Bioshock Collection might crash on startup too, because you just can’t have a PC port without random crashes at launch.

The PC version of No Man’s Sky and Bioshock Collection show us that things aren’t getting better. Developers aren’t paying as much attention to the PC versions of games as they should be. Reputations and fans are suffering as a result. Instead of taking this approach, in which something that seems “good enough” is shipped out, we should see real changes and progress toward better quality PC versions of games.

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