The Uncharted is one of Sony’s best-selling franchises. The sister series to the console manufacturer’s Magnum Opus, Uncharted carried the PlayStation brand for well over a decade, starting in 2007 with the release of Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune to 2016’s Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End. More importantly, it set the standard for future action-adventure games with its creatively explosive set pieces that, up until the games, belonged exclusively on the big screen. Unfortunately, save for that short spin-off, Uncharted: Lost Legacy and the Uncharted: Legacy of Thieves Collection for PlayStation 5 and PC, Naughty Dog appears to have given up on Uncharted. Even so, many fans are still hoping that Sony will revisit Uncharted again.
Now, a little over a year after the initial rumors of a reboot emerged, people are talking about Uncharted again due to Mark Wahlberg’s recent update and the Insomniac Games leak.
As part of the data breach, sales of games on PlayStation from the past few years were leaked online. One of the slides showed Sony basically asking Bend Studio to work on an Uncharted reboot instead of a Days Gone sequel. While the latter wouldn’t come to fruition despite the healthy sales figure, the former might be coming sooner rather than later.
Last year, Reddit spotted a job posting by Sony San Diego that said it’s working with Naughty Dog on a new game. It came after the studio’s unfortunate update regarding The Last of Us’ multiplayer spin-off, which is no longer happening. Thus, the only other explanation is The Last of Us Part 2 Remastered, The Last of Us Part 3, or an upcoming mystery IP. But, what if it’s neither? A report from Bloomberg two years back confirmed that Sony wanted to assign an Uncharted reboot to Bend Studio. We heard about it again last year. Now, Sony could have found the studio for the job – Sony San Diego.
The San Diego Studio isn’t typically associated with AAA titles, but you could argue the same about Insomniac Games, Naughty Dog, and Sucker Punch Productions, especially during their earlier years.
The fact that the MLB developers are working closely with Naughty Dog on a project lends weight to the speculations that it’s working on the reboot.
If it’s true, then San Diego Studio has its work cut out for it. Uncharted is a franchise that’s neither old enough to appeal to nostalgia or unique enough to be rebooted. In case you missed it, the video game industry isn’t short of action-adventure games.
Even if you throw in the treasure hunting into the mix, we’re not quite sure there’s a enough of a market for such games anyway. Don’t forget, there’s a reason why we haven’t seen a new Tomb Raider game for years. The only other game in the same space that’s worth mentioning is MachineGames’ upcoming Indiana Jones video game adaptation.
While the simple premise of a treasure hunting game like Tomb Raider and Indiana Jones but with cutting-edge visuals and the full financial backing of Sony might have worked in the past, we highly doubt it will have the same market in the 2020s.
Then again, Sony could be on to something. The unconfirmed reboot could create a solid action-adventure game and start a new franchise. After all, if the live-action adaptation of Uncharted could make enough money at the global box office to warrant a sequel, whose to say that a reboot can’t do the same thing?
We can argue about Sony’s unwillingness to take risks all we want, but the fact is, the increasing costs of video game development and the need to make shareholders happy requires certain compromises.
As far as safe bets are concerned, rebooting Uncharted and giving it to, let’s say, San Diego Studio, which has increased its size in recent years, isn’t the worst idea.
Of course, we should take leaks and rumors with a grain of salt. But, if it is true, we’re hoping Sony isn’t rebooting the franchise to keep it relevant. We hope it’s a reboot that gives the series the respect it deserves.
For now though, Naughty Dog fans can look forward to the studio’s next project, The Last of Us Part II Remastered, a re-release of the award-winning game that actually brings a lot to the table.
