According to an interesting new report by Bloomberg’s Jason Schreier, Sony’s Bend Studio was once tasked with creating a brand new Uncharted game under Naughty Dog‘s supervision. However, the team was unhappy with this, resulting in a number of lead developers resigning. Eventually, Bend Studio’s management asked to be taken off the project, and are now working on a game of their own.
Schreier’s report highlights an internal commotion within Sony due to the management’s “fixation” on blockbuster hits. The recent reorganization of the Japan Studio was part of this direction, and according to Bloomberg, the company has “informed developers that it no longer wants to produce smaller games that are only successful in Japan.”
Going back to Bend Studio’s Uncharted, Eurogamer’s sources have corroborated the report, adding that the game was meant to take the franchise in a new direction and be a reboot of sorts. One of the publication’s sources said that Sony even entertained the idea of a prequel. However, with Bend Studio exiting the project, it seems that plans for a new Uncharted game have been scrapped.
Bend Studio’s Uncharted “was set to be a new chapter in the series separated somewhat from Naughty Dog’s previous games,” added Eurogamer.
Elsewhere in his report, Schreier revealed that a team within Sony, the Visual Arts Service Group, planned to remake 2007’s Uncharted, but the idea was scrapped due to budget concerns as well as concerns that it would require a lot of redesign. That team was led by Michael Mumbauer, who has since left Sony.
