The Uncharted series has been a staple franchise associated with the PlayStation brand for well over a decade now. For many players, Uncharted represented the first modern video game that brought the Indiana Jones fantasy to life, however, Uncharted quickly became one of PlayStation's most beloved franchises and characters like Nathan Drake being synonymous with the brand. Developer Naughty Dog made the difficult decision to move to bigger things and hang up Drake’s cape in 2016 with Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End, as well as one final story DLC that drastically expanded in scope, eventually turning into the Chloe Fraser-led spin-off, Uncharted: The Lost Legacy.
Right now, Naughty Dog is only a few months away from the release of its highly-anticipated follow up to The Last Of Us, with only a couple of uncorroborated rumors about what the developer may be working on for its next game - supposedly a Naughty Dog sci-fi game. As the owners of the Uncharted IP, Sony has complete control over the future of the series with or without the involvement of Naughty Dog, and based on 2019 job listings for Sony San Diego, it appears the company may want to bring back the Uncharted franchise under a new development team for the PlayStation 5.
The Sony San Diego Rumors
Sony's San Diego Studio is one of fourteen SIE Worldwide Studios, best known for developing the incredibly popular MLB The Show series. In early 2018, rumors began circulating that Sony had created a new development team within San Diego Studio and the team would be working on a third-person action game alongside another major Sony-owned studio. Speculation started again in January 2019 when it was announced that a new animator had joined the team with credits that include Uncharted 4, The Last of Us, and Red Dead Redemption 2. Animator James Martinchek was welcomed to the team by San Deigo Studio Senior Game Designer Quentin Cobb, who previously worked alongside Martincheck during their days at Naughty Dog.
Why Uncharted Makes Sense
Outside of the 2017 PSVR title StarBlood Arena, San Diego Studio hasn't been credited as a support-studio on a game since 2015, giving some credibility to the idea that should be rumored third-person action-adventure game actually exists, it's one that's yet to be officially announced by Sony. Another San Diego Studio job listing advertised for a new Lead Character Designer to develop the “next chapter of cinematic story-telling,” a trait that's not exclusive to the Uncharted series but one that certainly makes sense with Naughty Dogs development goals for each of the mainline games. Given the history of the franchise and the success of the 2018 God Of War reboot, it's unlikely that Sony would let go of such a valuable property with the release of the PS5 coming at the end of the year.
If Not San Diego, Then Who?
The initial reason that speculation about San Diego Studio developing a new Uncharted game began in the first place came down to the fact that the rumored action-adventure game was being developed in conjunction with another major Sony studio. It makes sense that Sony would want to tread carefully with such a high-profile IP and have San Diego Studio working alongside Naughty Dog before taking complete control of the franchise moving forward. Unless Sony has more studio acquisitions taking place in the near future, right now, there's no other SIE Worldwide Studio that could be working on the project and there's no way that Sony would outsource the game to a second party studio.
Naughty Dog is moving onto something new. Bend Studio, Santa Monica, and Insomniac Games are all likely working on sequels to Days Gone (it sold very well), God of War, and Marvel's Spider-Man respectively. Polyphony Digital would be in development on the next Gran Turismo game for PS5. Sucker Punch and Media Molecule are both releasing games this year with Dreams and Ghosts of Tsushima. Even Sony's most recent studio to be opened, ForwardWorks is a mobile game developer based in Tokyo. In fact, every SIE Worldwide Studio has one significant reason or another to not be a suitable fit for the next game in the Uncharted franchise.
Could Uncharted Continue After Nathan Drake?
The Uncharted franchise has received universal acclaim from the video game industry and sold a combined total of 44.02 million units worldwide, making it the forty-seventh best-selling video game franchise of all time and beating out huge names like Guitar Hero, Street Fighter, Fallout, and even Half-Life. Naughty Dog's success comes down to a combination of reasons from gameplay mechanics to memorable setpieces like Uncharted 2's train sequence, its approach to cinematic storytelling, and the high-quality voice-acting delivered from the likes of Nolan North.
Above all else, one major reason that players kept coming back to Uncharted came down to its story and characters. Whether its Nathan Drake, Sully, Elena, or even Chloe Fraser, players care about these characters and want to see more from their stories. With that in mind, if Sony was to reboot the franchise from a new developer, the smartest thing that it could do would be to start fresh with a brand new cast of characters and give San Diego Studio the opportunity to leave their own mark with early assistance from Naughty Dog to help capture the right tone and magic that players love.
Whether there's a new game Uncharted currently in development or Sony has put the whole franchise on the back burner for the foreseeable future, Uncharted should and absolutely will be back with the PlayStation 5. Sony knows the value of the Uncharted franchise and the 2018 God Of War reboot has already proven that when treated properly and carefully, there's enough magic left to make something incredible for a whole new generation of players. Time will tell whether Nathan Drake will return but with Uncharted 4: A Thief's End being the perfect send-off for those characters, San Diego Studio's best chance will be to start fresh.
Uncharted: The Nathan Drake Collection is available now for PS4.