I Miss Uncharted (The Mismanagement of Sony IP)

I remember buying Uncharted 4 on launch day. I remember the small parking lot of the GameStop I went to. It wasn’t my regular store. My longtime friend and I both played through the Nathan Drake Collection on PS4; ready for the fourth and seemingly final entry in the series. We went to get the game together. I absolutely adored Uncharted 4, and it’s my favorite in the series. Even though the plot-line seemingly wraps up in 4, I couldn’t imagine that Sony would let Uncharted go away for too long. When the DLC spinoff game The Lost Legacy was released in 2017, I told myself I would play it before the next mainline Uncharted game was announced.

It’s been 7 years.

That announcement still hasn’t come.

As I’m writing this, I just finished The Lost Legacy mere minutes ago. It’s hard to believe the game is 7 years old already. It shouldn’t be any surprise, but the game still looks and feels incredible. I was reminded how much I missed Naughty Dog’s characters and dialogue. And most importantly, through little gameplay mechanics, my AI companions felt useful and alive. For example, the game quickly introduces you to lockpicking. But by the time you meet up with Nadine (your partner for the whole game), you are tasked with lockpicking a glass door. After a few seconds of trying to do it, Nadine just shatters the glass and opens the door her way. It’s a little touch that cleverly subverts the gameplay to allow a characters personality to shine.

I would dare say that’s the Naughty Dog touch. Finishing The Lost Legacy proved to me how much I miss Uncharted. I miss the goofy dialogue. I miss the complete unrealism. I miss the protagonists almost dying every five minutes. It’s always a good time.

As we’re approaching fourth year of PlayStation 5, things feel awkwardly stagnant from Sony themselves. Concord looks ready to fail. The Last of Us Factions has been cancelled. Insomniac has pretty much become a Marvel studio. And most relevant to this article; their IP seems totally mismanaged. (I do want to give credit and say I’m very excited for Astrobot).

During the Wii and Wii U days I would often hear Nintendo critics saying the company would “milk” their franchises. I never really saw it that way. The difference between simply continuing and “milking” would be if you were pumping out new products at such a rapid pace that quality seemingly isn’t of the utmost importance. Look at Assassin’s Creed. I think I’m not alone in saying that the series has almost zero respect from me. There was no reason for it to become a yearly franchise. And look at how uneven the quality has become over the last decade. Coincidence? But when you look at something like Zelda or Mario, there’s usually only one mainline game per system and a spin-off or two (there are some exceptions such as the cross-platform games Twilight Princess and Breath of the Wild).

The irony is that nowadays every company is trying to copy what Nintendo has: longstanding IP that bring in both new and old fans. Why hasn’t there been a Jak 4? A new Resistance or Killzone game? A new Infamous? Parappa the Rappa? Gravity Rush?

And no, I don’t think Sony first party studios should forever be locked into the same few franchises. Let’s look at Bluepoint Games. They are what I like to call a “specialty studio”. They do one thing extremely well in remaking or remastering games. It’s a strong utility to have. Why not establish 1-2 “legacy studios”? A studio that is tasked with creating new entries in important Sony series while strictly adhering to quality standards. Let’s say I wanted a Gravity Rush 3. Have one of these “legacy studios” study the first two Gravity Rush games and create a new entry. Depending on the IP, Sony could even have some key people who worked on the original games help one of these hypothetical studios.

It just seems foolish to let all these worlds and characters fade into obscurity. Why not try to reinvent them? God of War 2018 is vastly different in terms of tone and gameplay from the original PS2 game; and its more popular than ever now. If it’s possible with God of War, it’s possible with any franchise.

When I buy any Nintendo system I know I will likely get a new mainline entry in most of my favorite series. I don’t think it’s too much to ask the same of Sony. Where is Uncharted 5? It was clearly teased in one of Sony’s promotional videos a while back.

I have an optimistic theory that the tail end of the PS5 will be packed with good stuff. There’s many studios that have been absent for a while and must have a game cooking. No?

I sure hope so.