Ever since Uncharted 4 has been revealed, it has been sold to the players on the promise of it being the final Uncharted title, the last game in Nathan Drake’s episodic odysseys. The hint was right there in the name of the game: ‘A Thief’s End’ is, in the end, not subtle in terms of communicating that with this game, Naughty Dog are looking at signing off on their flagship franchise once and for all.
However, just because Naughty Dog is done with the series doesn’t mean that it will end– after all, the Uncharted games are Sony’s flagship franchise, their highest selling titles worldwide, and they would be foolish to let something like that simply end. Obviously, if not by Naughty Dog, then Uncharted games with other studios will be coming in the future, right?
Naughty Dog seems to be okay with that idea- their only stipulation, it seems, is that the new studio can get the ‘essence’ of the series right.
“If they made a great game I’d be excited,” Naughty Dog’s Neil Druckmann said to GamesRadar. “I’d want to play an Uncharted I didn’t work on. It’d be a lot of fun.
“Obviously we would have a big part in it as the creators of the franchise,” he continued, “We’d just want to make sure they get the essence of it right.”
Something like this could go well, or it could not- in general, whenever Sony have handed a franchise of theirs off to another studio, it has never worked out all that well- titles like Sly 4 and Jak and Daxter: The Lost Frontier are a testament to that fact. However, just maybe, Sony will be more careful with a big name series like Uncharted in picking a new studio. Plus with Naughty Dog also being involved in the process, who knows? A new Uncharted game could turn out fine.
For now, though, there is Uncharted 4 to look forward to. And it launches in May, exclusively on the PlayStation 4.