• Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.

Sony's secret San Diego studio/team that was rumored to be developing an Uncharted game has seemingly been shut down

IntentionalPun

Ask me about my wife's perfect butthole
A project was cancelled (just past pre-production really, "early development" stage); but some of the dev team kept their jobs. Creative director level jobs got the boot though.
 
Last edited:

Fbh

Member
Sounds nothing like Uncharted heh.

How so?

Uncharted has always had puzzles, they just usually are rather basic and bland.
Uncharted has always had platforming, it just entails 0 challenge and it's automated to the point where you usually just push the analog stick in a general direction and mash X.
They already introduced large areas in 4, it's just that there was literally nothing to do in them other than walking around, seeing a small shiny object on the ground and interacting with it to pick up a useless collectable.

Long running franchises need to change and evolve to not grow stale.
 
Last edited:
Quentin Cobb a Sr. game designer who was hyping their game for a long time has apparently left Sony per his linkedin profile:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/quentin-qtrain-cobb/

And another Sr. game designer has also left while tweeting this:



The tweet makes it very clear that at the very least the team that Sony tried to create does not exist anymore, and likely that the game itself has been cancelled.

Really sucks to see a new studio that didnt even get its time to introduce itself get shut down, especially as per the tweet and the linkedin page the game got cancelled around when PS5 has launched.

They still have a lot of new jobs for this team were and if they are still there in the next few weeks, the studio is probably not closed.

Job Application for Senior Gameplay Programmer at Sony Interactive Entertainment PlayStation (greenhouse.io)
 

Valentino

Member
What are you all talking about "the formula" for? The games never openly put themselves out there with a complex wide variety formula. The stories and characters are what you were absolutely playing for along with the set pieces, graphics and writing. What "formula" you going to put in these games? You've all been playing Spiderman games for the past 25 years. Swinging around the same new york game after game. You still had fun.
 
Uncharted was getting stale by 4 imo and The Lost Legacy was a good step in the right direction but these games aren't the groundbreaking masterpieces they once were.

I'd like to see Sony invest in new IPs or reviving other IPs before we get another Uncharted.

I agree to an extent.

I love the Uncharted series, but I much rather Naughty Dog to work on a new ip.

I would love then to tackle scifi to be honest.

But I also agree that the Uncharted should continue if a new developer can take over the reigns and excel, and furthermore, expand the series.

It could be like Gears, but hopefully with more unique changes or improvements on the formula in each iteration.

Though I can't imagine where they would take the series after 4, and I fear that if it's a sequel starring Drakes daughter - anti SJW's would call bloody murder.
 

Hunnybun

Member
My one concern about the likelihood of Sony continuing Uncharted is that The Lost Legacy didn't seem to do that well commercially.

They may be worried about how well the franchise would do without Nathan Drake at the helm.

Personally I like Chloe, but was really irritated by them pretending she was Indian all along. They also made her much less sexy, which was her main appeal lol. It was practically her defining characteristic.

But I really don't like Nadine and the general, tedious, "girl power" vibe. She's got no personality whatsoever. Literally anyone else from the series would've been preferable as a sidekick. They really didn't do the game's chances any favours going down that route.

If it were up to me I'd probably do a sequel with Nate as the lead, in some kind of plot to rescue Elena or Sully or someone. You could then introduce some other character he works with who you could perhaps transfer control to
like in TLOU 2 with Abby

So you'd be riding off the popularity of Nate but properly setting up the series for the future too. There's nothing really in the last game that would preclude that as a coherent narrative.
 
Last edited:

Clear

CliffyB's Cock Holster
My one concern about the likelihood of Sony continuing Uncharted is that The Lost Legacy didn't seem to do that well commercially.

Lost Legacy started out as free DLC and outgrew itself. However they still honored pre-purchases as part of digital deluxe etc. so that would have cost quite a few sales, as well as kinda underselling it to people who hadn't.

Good game, clunky-ass melee combat sections aside.
 

Hunnybun

Member
Lost Legacy started out as free DLC and outgrew itself. However they still honored pre-purchases as part of digital deluxe etc. so that would have cost quite a few sales, as well as kinda underselling it to people who hadn't.

Good game, clunky-ass melee combat sections aside.

Fair points.

I liked the game a lot tbh. Underrated graphically, too. Not in that anyone criticises it for that, but that you don't see it get the overt praise it deserves. Certain sections are probably THE best looking things of the entire generation. It's fucking glorious looking.
 
D

Deleted member 471617

Unconfirmed Member
If it's Uncharted 5 that was cancelled, I would be perfectly fine with that but if it was Lost Legacy 2, then im disappointed. :(
 

DrBillOA

Banned
How so?

Uncharted has always had puzzles, they just usually are rather basic and bland.
Uncharted has always had platforming, it just entails 0 challenge and it's automated to the point where you usually just push the analog stick in a general direction and mash X.
They already introduced large areas in 4, it's just that there was literally nothing to do in them other than walking around, seeing a small shiny object on the ground and interacting with it to pick up a useless collectable.

Long running franchises need to change and evolve to not grow stale.
Put down the pipe, was the quip.
 

Agent X

Member
Uncharted isn’t Uncharted unless it’s Nate. It never works when people try to keep franchises going without the reason they‘re successful, and uncharted is popular because of Nate’s character.
Lost Legacy was perfectly fine without Nate.

I agree. Anyone who disagrees likely has not played The Lost Legacy.

Nate certainly is a great character, but I don't mind moving him to the background at least temporarily. They've created enough great, likable characters that they could place one of them in the starring role, as The Lost Legacy proved.

I could see a fifth entry with Chloe or Sully as the main characters, taking over the torch from Nate. It would not change the franchise in any drastic way, it would most likely freshen things up a bit.
That's not what is happening. Nathan story is done. They won't want to show horn Cassie as a lead. She seems not the adventure type. She's more like her mom, and seems to be more about the history than the value. Similar to what Nate and elena found out about each other. Nate loves discovery of historical figures/artifacts.

I can see another adventure with Sam, young sully, chloe, nadine or even charlie cutter.

I'd like to see this, too. It would give them the opportunity to add depth to the "supporting" characters. There are lots of geographic locations and historical scenarios that could be used. By placing one of the other characters as the primary protagonist, they could delve further into that character's back story, and describe his or her personal connection to that location and its history.
 

DrBillOA

Banned
Sony's focus on character promotion is lame and getting lamer by the moment. I don't see a universe with actual lore I care about with these tired lara croft take attempts. I cared(liked) Lara and her relationship with her father, but now we have mark wahlberg in a movie for some lonely Russians in a far off theatre? Who cares?
 

FunkMiller

Member
I agree. Anyone who disagrees likely has not played The Lost Legacy.

Nate certainly is a great character, but I don't mind moving him to the background at least temporarily. They've created enough great, likable characters that they could place one of them in the starring role, as The Lost Legacy proved.

I played and completed Lost Legacy. It was fine. It also sold like garbage. Like I say, Nate is the draw for Uncharted. Nobody wants a game without him as the lead.
 
Last edited:

Hunnybun

Member
I agree. Anyone who disagrees likely has not played The Lost Legacy.

Nate certainly is a great character, but I don't mind moving him to the background at least temporarily. They've created enough great, likable characters that they could place one of them in the starring role, as The Lost Legacy proved.




I'd like to see this, too. It would give them the opportunity to add depth to the "supporting" characters. There are lots of geographic locations and historical scenarios that could be used. By placing one of the other characters as the primary protagonist, they could delve further into that character's back story, and describe his or her personal connection to that location and its history.

I'm not sure.

Sully's too old, Cutter's not charismatic enough, Sam's not heroic enough, Nadine's too fucking boring.

It's only really Chloe who's a credible new lead imo. I think they should go with Chloe and try to establish a new character as a sidekick or potential future lead at the same time.
 

Evangelion Unit-01

Master Chief
Sounds like San Diego’s second project is still ongoing.

Uncharted is my favorite Sony first party franchise and Uncharted 2 remains one of my favorite games of all time. You have to be careful when moving IP to a new dev team. Don’t fall into the sunk cost fallacy and make sure the team understands what people love about the games. Don’t end up with a 343 making a Halo 4 or 5.

That said not even Naughty Dog was capable of following up Uncharted 2. Uncharted 3, while a good game, did not live up to either the fantastic action sequences or the story highs of Uncharted 2. Simililarly Uncharted 4 changed the gameplay to focus more on stealth and felt like it never fully resolved the story. There wasn’t any real payoff to the pirate storyline, no supernatural element or reveal.

Lost Legacy was a step up from Uncharted 4 but still wasn’t quite as good as Uncharted 2. It was a great spinoff. It also shows how it hard it would be to continue the series with another lead. Nobody wants to watch an Indiana Jones movie about Mutt or a Bond movie with someone else as 007. Spin-offs are fine but letting someone else take over the lead role is incredibly difficult to pull off successfully. In my opinion Chloe is a great character and probably better suited for the lead than Nate’s daughter or Sully. Still, moving her to a lead role would be very difficult to pull off. One of those things where they have a very short runway on which to land.
 
Last edited:

Agent X

Member
I played and completed Lost Legacy. It was fine. It also sold like garbage. Like I say, Nate is the draw for Uncharted.

How many copies did it sell?

I'm not sure.

Sully's too old, Cutter's not charismatic enough, Sam's not heroic enough, Nadine's too fucking boring.

It's only really Chloe who's a credible new lead imo. I think they should go with Chloe and try to establish a new character as a sidekick or potential future lead at the same time.

Many people have been clamoring for a game with Sully as the lead. Sully after Uncharted 4 might be too old for heart-pumping run & gun action, but there's nothing stopping Sony from making a "flashback" game that takes place 20-30 years earlier.

I think Cutter's character hasn't been fully developed. We really only got to see him in Uncharted 3. Nevertheless, it seems like fans have taken a liking to him.

As I said above, making these characters the main protagonist gives the developers the opportunity to flesh out their back story some more, and give them the depth that they otherwise wouldn't receive when stuck in the background.
 

Hunnybun

Member
How many copies did it sell?



Many people have been clamoring for a game with Sully as the lead. Sully after Uncharted 4 might be too old for heart-pumping run & gun action, but there's nothing stopping Sony from making a "flashback" game that takes place 20-30 years earlier.

I think Cutter's character hasn't been fully developed. We really only got to see him in Uncharted 3. Nevertheless, it seems like fans have taken a liking to him.

As I said above, making these characters the main protagonist gives the developers the opportunity to flesh out their back story some more, and give them the depth that they otherwise wouldn't receive when stuck in the background.

I'm not saying it's impossible, I'm just saying that Nate is pretty much your perfect leading man. It shouldn't be underestimated how much the success of the series is tied to him.

Personally I think they probably need a new male lead to team up with Chloe. I suppose you could just introduce him suddenly, like they did with Chloe herself, but IMO it'd be better to do it gradually alongside Nate and try to more carefully knit him into the world.

Sam would've been fine for the role if they hadn't relegated him to comic relief in TLL.
 

reinking

Gold Member
giphy.gif
 

Alienware

Member
False Alarm.



Title of the thread should be updated, right now is just misleading and completely false.

By the way even if it were true, this is how Sony keeps putting out quality games. They have standards and is willing to rework or cancel what doesn't work.
 
Last edited:

FunkMiller

Member
How many copies did it sell?

It scraped over one million. Uncharted 4 sold 16 million.

Uncharted is Nathan Drake the same way Tomb Raider is Lara Croft. These games are popular because of the characters, not the setting.
 
Last edited:

sublimit

Banned
The tweet makes it very clear that at the very least the team that Sony tried to create does not exist anymore, and likely that the game itself has been cancelled.

Lol i must have read a different tweet then because nothing in it "makes it very clear that at the very least the team that Sony tried to create does not exist anymore, and likely that the game itself has been cancelled."
64672078d9f9c0d94fba2f0c627251f2.gif


Also lol at the xbox fanboys here who don't want to see another Uncharted. :messenger_grinning_smiling: I'm sure your interest in the series is genuine!
 
Last edited:

Airbus Jr

Banned
It scraped over one million. Uncharted 4 sold 16 million.

Uncharted is Nathan Drake the same way Tomb Raider is Lara Croft. These games are popular because of the characters, not the setting.
You are right Nathan is important but i think someone like Chloe can replace him

tenor.gif
 

DrBillOA

Banned
Title of the thread should be updated, right now is just misleading and completely false.

By the way even if it were true, this is how Sony keeps putting out quality games. They have standards and is willing to rework or cancel what doesn't work.
Name 2 quality games in the past year.
 

Agent X

Member
I'm not saying it's impossible, I'm just saying that Nate is pretty much your perfect leading man. It shouldn't be underestimated how much the success of the series is tied to him.

No, I agree, Nate is an awesome character. But U:TLL proved that they could still produce a solid game without him. It seems like Naughty Dog had no qualms about changing things up while making that game, as they deliberately chose to develop the game around an entirely different character.

One positive aspect of having a new protagonist with little or no established back story is that it gives the developer the opportunity to explore new avenues. Nathan Drake's been the star of 5 games, so now fans have an fairly established expectation of how his character walks, talks, and otherwise interacts. Having a fresh face as the protagonist gives them a (mostly) blank slate for the character to do things that otherwise would be out of place or inappropriate for Nate.

It scraped over one million. Uncharted 4 sold 16 million.

Over one million, but under two million? If so, that's quite the drop.

The game received a lot of critical acclaim, so it's certainly not for the lack of effort.
 

Blond

Banned
I used to love Uncharted - but for some reason 4 just didn't click with me and I stopped playing it pretty soon and never went back to it. It was strange because there wasn't anything I actively disliked about it, it just didn't make we want to carry on playing.

It’s cause it was fucking boring.
 

oldergamer

Member
The gaming community really should concern themselves with studios opening and closing that haven't released anything. It happens all the time and nobody is even aware. It really should only matter if/when that studio delivers a game.

Games are cancelled or shelved all the time.
 

Valentino

Member
Sony's focus on character promotion is lame and getting lamer by the moment. I don't see a universe with actual lore I care about with these tired lara croft take attempts. I cared(liked) Lara and her relationship with her father, but now we have mark wahlberg in a movie for some lonely Russians in a far off theatre? Who cares?

What's the lore in Tomb Raider then?
So you state you like the one thing about the TR franchise that a huge chunk of fans and casual gamers absolutely slated. The whole series for the past 6 main TR titles has been about her crying or being upset or trying to understand her Dads work and stuff about her mother. Sounds like your in a very small minority. Coming in here saying Sonys character promotion is lame?! Tskk - where's the issue with that though? You mean those Sony games that keep selling well? Those games that are creating regular mascots? The critically acclaimed games? Are those what your talking about? Why is them promoting characters (or do you mean character driven games) lame? It works.......Lara's crap isn't working, that's the general consensus. That all pains me to say as Lara is the top of everything for me.... but your chatting waffle
 
I used to love Uncharted - but for some reason 4 just didn't click with me and I stopped playing it pretty soon and never went back to it. It was strange because there wasn't anything I actively disliked about it, it just didn't make we want to carry on playing.
I made it to Uncharted 3 until I had that "been there, done that" feeling creeping in and I stopped playing it.

No way I would have made it through 4.
 
Top Bottom