It’s been more than four years since Naughty Dog closed Nathan Drake’s chapter inUncharted 4: A Thief’s Endand fans have been craving for the next entry in theUnchartedseries ever since. While there have been plenty of rumors floating about Sony’s San Diego studio working on the nextUnchartedgame, none of them have been confirmed so far until today.
Sony’s San Diego studios' new team has been shrouded in mystery ever since the rumors of a newUnchartedgame started floating on the internet. Sony hasn’t officially acknowledged the existence of this new team yet, however, eagle-eyed fans were quick to notice the LinkedIn profile of the former PlayStation Studio Head, Michael Mumbauer, who worked as the studio head with anew team-based in San Diego. This new team was apparently working on a brand new AAA action-adventure game, something that sounds vaguely similar toUncharted.
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Interestingly, a new report from Bloomberg’s Jason Schreier suggests that the San Diego studio was working onThe Last of Usremake, whereas Sony Bend Studio was working on abrand newUnchartedgameunder Naughty Dog’s supervision. Unfortunately, it seems some of the lead staff members were unhappy with this new direction Bend Studio was headed towards and parted ways. According to Schreier, “Bend’s developers feared they might be absorbed into Naughty Dog, and the studio’s leadership asked to be taken off the Uncharted project.”
Fans who were worried about a newUnchartedbeing developed by some other studio other than Naughty Dog should be at ease, however, Schreier’s statement over on Twitter makes the future of this nextUnchartedgame quite uncertain. If Schreier’s statement above is anything to go by, the nextUnchartedgame might not be in development anymore. Meanwhile, there are plenty of rumors that suggest thatNaughty Dog’s next game is a new IP codenamedStray Cross,making it all the more questionable whether Naughty Dog would be able to toggle three projects, includingThe Last of Us 2multiplayer, if at all.
As for Sony Bend, the studio is most notably known for developing 2019’sDays Gonebut has previously worked onUncharted: Golden Abyss, a PS Vita spinoff of theUnchartedseries. With a notable experience working on theUnchartedfranchise, Bend Studio seems like a perfect fit to take the series forward. However, given the success the studio has found withDays Gone, it isn’t surprising that it would want to work on a sequel or an entirely new IP of its own. Unlike other major first-party releases such asGod of WarorThe Last of Us 2,Days Goneisn’t a critically acclaimed title. While the game has found a resounding fan base over the course of years who still plays the game and shares screenshots taken via the game’s incredible photo mode on social media, it’s possible that it didn’t meet Sony’s expectations.
Uncharted’sfuture seems cloudy for the time being. But givenSony’s commitment to delivering blockbuster first-party gamesthat would be both a commercial and critical success, it’s highly unlikely that the company would abandon one of its biggest franchises just like that.
