Of all of Sony’s first party franchises for PlayStation, few carry the kind of cachet that Naughty Dog’s Uncharted saga does- maybe God of War, and maybe, back in the day, Gran Turismo, but that’s about it. No other PlayStation franchise has become as synonymous with the brand as Uncharted has.
It looks like Sony themselves recognize the series’ importance to their first party portfolio, too. Ahead of the launch of Uncharted 4 next week, Sony Computer Entertainment of Europe Vice-President for Southern Europe Philippe Cardon discussed the importance of Uncharted and the weight this title carries for them.
“Uncharted is one of the top three licenses Sony [has, along] with Gran Turismo and God of War. The new [iteration] represents a lot of work three years in total. I think this will be one of the most successful [installments] and there will be a wow effect [with its] technology. This is a highly anticipated game, which is important to us.
“The saga [has recorded] a total of 25 million units sold. This is huge because it must be understood that this is a title that is sold only on PlayStation. Development costs are the same as those of a multi-platform license. But Uncharted is a license that sells hardware. That’s why we have our own studios,” Cardon told Challenges.
It does make sense- as great as Bloodborne was, and as much as people have been waiting for ten years for The Last Guardian, neither of those games will come anywhere close to enjoying the kind of ubiquity that Uncharted 4 will, and that Uncharted does in general. 20 years after the launch of the original PlayStation, Sony have finally found their own Halo, their own Mario– and next week, we see the capstone to that franchise when Uncharted 4 finally launches.
