How Much Will Uncharted 4’s Delay Hurt Sony?

411mania: Sony’s 2015 lineup of exclusives took another major hit when it was announced that Uncharted 4 has been delayed until 2016. Should we be worried about the status of the game now? Considering all of the people that have left the series, the Last of Us guys taking over development, and Sony insisting it was coming out this year. If you were on the sidelines still undecided about whether or not to buy a PS4, does this change your mind at all? Knowing Uncharted 4 won’t come out till next year? Does this give a boost to Xbox One or Wii U sales perhaps?

[twiggytree12]

It amazes me how people forget about first 11 months of the year.... *facepalm*

[xHeavYx]

I know, it's not gonna hurt Sony at all.

[Dirtnapstor]

Agreed. So now there will a rush on PS4s at Christmas and in the Spring.

[Gazondaily]

I disagree. I think its absence in 2015 leaves a big gaping hole in Sony's 'arsenal' of games in 2015, ignoring of course, any further announcements at E3 etc for games releasing this year.

Uncharted 4 is big. Expectations were huge and it was THE BIGGEST title to appear on the PS4. Uncharted 4 is a killer app.

How much will it hurt Sony in 2015? Well, the stellar reviews for Bloodborne will go some ways in easing any sort of 'pain' (just following the rhetoric courtesy of the terminology utilised here). We'll have to see how everything pans out post E3.

[MrSec84]

Exactly, PS4's been selling incredibly well, the Year's started to get good with Bloodborne earning a 93 on Metacritic.

Uncharted would have been great, but there's no sense in releasing it if it's not the best game that it can be with a few more months work.

The year is packed with exclusives on PS4, 16 to be exact as things stand right now and Sony have said they have more to announce throughout the year, so I wouldn't be worried.

PS4 has been selling well without the great line-up that's coming this year, I'm sure the platform will only get better this year,. despite Uncharted being delayed.

2016 is going to be even better, with Uncharted 4, likely God of War 4/Reboot and a slew of other games yet to be announced.
GT7 will either be late this year or sometime in 2016. Guerrilla Games likely has something for this year, be it their new IP, a new Killzone or potentially Resistance, those games could come out across 2015 and 2016.

Sly Cooper probably has a new game planned for alongside the movie. New Motorstorm or a Wipeout game is probably coming soon too.

PS4 will be packed with more exclusives, Sony has nothing to worry about.
Their devs have been dead quiet for ages, the announcements are likely incoming!

[DeadlyFire]

I expect many things from Sony. One of them is Killzone to be announced at E3 to launch this year. Killzone has been releasing every two years since Killzone 2 arrived. Sure Horizon will also be announced. RPGs take awhile to develop. More so than an FPS you would imagine. So I wouldn't expect that game to release until 2016 at the earliest. Sony has some confidence behind them now I believe. I am betting they throw Killzone directly at Halo 5's release. How it ends noone knows just yet.

A new resistance is also a possibility, but I expect if that is so they stretch it out for another year.

There are also other titles in the works that we know little to nothing about. E3 and on forward should tell us. I expect plenty of teasers to drop in April and May before E3 in June.

[ninsigma]

@Reality

Did you ever think that the disagrees were from people that, ya know, disagreed, with Septic saying there's now "a big gaping hole in Sony's 'arsenal'". Maybe people don't find that to be the case and there are plenty of games to keep them busy.

Name calling also isn't necessary.

OT:

This again?? *Sigh*
It's getting a bit boring at this point. Find something else to write about (I read an article earlier about representation in games, that was a good read, write something like that). Also not surprised one bit to find Pozzle to be the submitter, the guy loves negative Sony news.

Anyway, I was really looking forward to UC4 but it got delayed, damn, oh well, I'll play something else, God knows the backlog is big enough. And then all the other awesome games to come out this year. I won't write a list, it's been done to death and if you people don't get it yet, then you never will.

[RealityModeler]

@ninsigma, fair enough about my negative comment. I just think people should reply why they disagree if the comment is obviously logical.

Edit: Also, I agree with the possibility of people not agreeing with the symbolism he described. Good point.

[styferion]

True, besides Sony isn't one who placed all bets into 1 IP.

Just look into Sony's history, each gen has different masterpiece. Hell, Nate only become some sort of generation's representative since what.. after UC 2? that's only since about half of last gen lifecycle..

If we're talking about long-running mascot, actually Snake would fit better to be compared to Nintendo's Mario or Xbox's Master Chief.

[InTheLab]

It amazes me how people forget about the last 9 months of the year.....

Yeah I'm picking up Bloodborne in a few hours but the situation is bleak for me personally on the PS4 side as far as exclusives go.

Think about it. The PS4 has no flagship title out this fall which is the most important time of year in gaming. Meanwhile, the X1 has it's flagship title....and freaking Tomb Raider...and I guess Forza for whoever cares to be milked. Point is, you can't take an L in the fall.

@ourosmag

There's sales and then there's the reality that the PS4 has struggled to produce quality exclusives this gen. I mean, the Wii sold well too. I didn't buy a PS4 with expectation of it mimicking the 360 with relying on multiplats and maybe getting thrown a bone.

And last year, the X1 had an equally mediocre lineup but that's not the case this year, is it? It was easy to ignore how awful the last year has been for PS4 exclusives when the competition is just as bad.

[OUROSMAG]

You realize this was the exact same situation last year and the PS4 still did really well.

[Chevalier]

Yet they continue to destroy Xbone sales for 10 months out of the year and lead by 9 million units. By fall that could easily be 12-15 million more units.

Also the top selling games are all 3rd party where PS4 versions destroy Xbone versions. PS4 also sells significantly more software. So why would Sony be worried?!

[Dewitt]

You forgot Quantum Break this fall.

[BlackTar187]

it amazes me how much better Tomb Raider is now that it's exclusive.

[PrinceOfAllSaiyans]

The same rehashed "killer apps" they've been releasing for almost 15 years. PS4 would still destroy that Xbox with or without any big games.

[MrSec84]

You realize any game that is already out is still on store shelves in the fall right?

Ratchet & Clank will probably be a pretty huge deal in the Fall, assuming it's not released in the Summer or earlier.
Tearaway on the vita was pretty awesome from what I've read about it, the PS4 game will likely be awesome too.

There's plenty of other exclusives for the year (16 to be exact), hardly a small deal and there's still months to announce new games.

I laugh at the fact that people call themselves gamers, yet they don't pay attention to the tonnes of games announced for PS4 at the conferences last year.
This year is already packed with a tonne of stuff!

[Chevalier]

The PS4 has The Order 1886, Bloodborne, MLB, Ratchet and Clank, Tearaway and Until Dawn. It also has more variety and lots of 3rd party exclusives to also fill any gaps.

Amplitude
Disgaea 5
Omega Quintet
Godzilla
J Stars
Jojo
One Piece 3
Toukidan
Yakuza
FF X
FF XIV expansion
Dragonquest Heroes
Persona 5
Godeater 2 Rage Burst
SF Ultra
Hyperneptunia
Fairy Fencer Dark Force
Tropico 5
Guilty Gear Xrd

3rd party games also sell more than exclusives do. Just look how badly Forza Horizon 2 and SSO sold. Sony already has their own flagship games in MLB, Ratchet and Tearaway.

[Gority]

@InTheLab TR is just a timed exclusive. Not only that, but it's coming to 360 as well so if it's that important you play right away and have a 360, play it on that.

If you require "Big flagship titles" constantly, you bought the wrong platform. Sony has plenty of exclusives titles, but they have always had a very diverse and sometimes niche lineup. Exclusives this year:
The Tomorrow Children
Rime
Until Down
Ratchet and Clank
Wild
Tearaway Unfolded
Fat Princess Adventures
Alienation
Everybody's gone to the Rapture

So, if none of those appeal to you, or you just have to have all your exclusives be huge budget AAA titles, you bought the wrong platform. See if you can trade your PS4 in for an X1.

[madmonkey01]

sony does not need to have 2 big games a year out like MS does, (if they are lucky) they do it all year.

also tomb raider is multi plat infact it will no doubt be better when it goes to ps4.

[styferion]

Well.. since we're talking about reality, there's also the reality it only affect US and UK, where sales are neck-to-neck.

Let's face it, exclusive games don't really matter, tradition and where your friends play are the ones that matter the most.

No exclusives in any console can justify having to isolate yourself from console many of your friends are playing on. Not Uncharted, not Mario, not Halo. We can live not playing one of these, it's just like picking between Charmander, Squirtle, or Bulbasaur.

Talking and sharing about games is the most important factor in choosing which console. In this, PS dominate the rest of the world.

No one to talk about the game with is a huge turn-off for most consumer, great game or not.

============================= ============

Well, that's all about reality, now let's go back to argue about which console have better exclusive between us minorities who come to game forums.

[Spotie]

@InTheLab: I remember when you used to have reasonable comments. That is: comments that contained reason.

No console will ever have a library that's perfect for any one gamer. Who gives a shit if nothing else coming out this year catches YOUR eye? You're one of 20 million people, not even a drop in the bucket. The same goes for me, but then I'm not trying to discredit any console's library in its entirety because it lacks what I, personally, want.

Tomb Raider is NOT a flagship title. It's fairly large, but it's multiplatform AND multigenerational. And while you talk about losing in the fall, do you SERIOUSLY think Tomb Raider will be capable of catapulting the XB1 to a worldwide sales lead, even for the holidays alone? Well, maybe, if you only consider here in the US. But then, how did that work out for the XB1 last holiday?

Has the PS4 struggled? Or has that become the narrative? People are still calling DriveClub a broken mess... the same people that praised MCC from the start, despite its problems. If you're looking for the same number of exclusives that you're used to on the PS3, you must be relatively new to gaming. These are the first years, and they're never stacked. What IS present is pretty good, and quite varied.

And what does the XB1 have that's SO much better? The same things as last year that didn't help it at all? Why do you think things will change? Why are you ignoring so much of the year for the sake of your argument?

Last 9 months? The PS4 has- as it did last year- games for the majority of the year, and as always, there will be games announced throughout the year that will come out before year's end.

I swear it's like you've forgotten everything that's happened every year EVER. There is literally NOTHING that indicates that this will harm PlayStation, let alone that it'll benefit the XB1.

[Chevalier]

They got to move goalposts though. Somehow 2 months is more important than the other 10. News flash PS4 sells more software and most sales are from 3rd party games not first party games. Remember the delay of Driveclub which were going to hurt sales?! TLOU was also delayed and went on to be GOTY.

[1Victor]

Did I oversleep because I do not remember uncharted 4 having a release date officially.

[NBT91]

It had an official 2015 release window, yeah.

[madmonkey01]

not at all, thhey could dleay half of the ps4 games announced this year and still have a better line up than the competition.

[PowerPlayaaa]

Havn't they seen the scores bloodborne is getting??

[Timesplitter14]

Agreed, Bloodborne seems much more important than Uncharted at this point

[InTheLab]

You can't be serious....

Bloodborne is more important than Uncharted? A fairly niche title is more important than a franchise with hundreds of goty nominations and one of the 3 titles being largely considered game of the generation?

Unreal.....

[Timesplitter14]

People who don't like Bloodborne don't matter!

[DragonKnight]

@InTheLab: Yes, a new IP is more important. Get over it.

[EvilWay]

Yea but BloodBorne won't last until the end of the year it's only 40 hours long

[Timesplitter14]

Souls games last forever. I'm still playing Dark Souls 2

[DragonKnight]

I'm still playing Demon's Souls, so are many many other people. Souls games have legs for years.

[Gamers_Unite]

It doesn't need to last to the end of the year. Metal Gear will sell PS4's like hot cakes. Honestly Microsoft needs to step up cause they aren't looking to good sales wise in comparison to the PS4

[Timesplitter14]

Metal Gear won't be a huge system-seller (for PS4 specifically) this time around. It's also releasing on X1 and PC.

I can see it selling relatively better on PS4, but that's about it

[SoapShoes]

Uhhh MGS will sell way better on PS4 just like Ground Zeroes did.

[LordMaim]

@SoapShoes: MGSV will sell better on PS4, and perform better on the PS4. Ground Zeroes showed the difference, so just wait till people see the open world setting.

[Zenith4k]

It would hurt more if they released it unfinished... The last year has taught me a vailible lesson to not buy games on day release or even a few months down the line ( I'm not saying this will happen here) as an older gamer iv never seen this many too soon released games, unfinished or broken. My advice is that the wait will be worth it

[IGiveHugs2NakedWomen]

@"How Much Will Uncharted 4’s Delay Hurt Sony?"

Ummm... One game isn't going to make or break sales numbers for the Playstation 4. It's currently selling nearly a million units a month world wide so I have no idea what the article is trying convey.

Some of these "journalists" behave as though the PS4 is only releasing 3 or 4 exclusives this year (like the other guys) and they also act like November and December are the only months in a year. I guess moving the goal posts is all some people have left.

[slappy508]

I'm sorry? I can't hear you over the sound of me dying repeatedly on Bloodborne!

[sizeofyou]

:)

[proudxgamer]

Lol

[Malice-Flare]

MS winning the last two months means nothing if it is not enough to overhaul a lead built up by the first 10 months...

[LordMaim]

Selling more in the last two months of 2014 in the US, you mean. Globally, it still got killed.

[iliimaster]

idk about everyone else but if xboxone was bundled with gta v and if i knew about the gears collection sooner the delay in uncharted 4 sooner, plus tomb raider day one i woulda got a xboxone before i picked up a ps4 right now all i own on ps4 is remasters gta v, tlou (beat it on ps3) tomb raider definitive edition and madden

[The_Sage]

I have a feeling you're not being honest. Either that, or you live under a rock. Why would you not have Shadow Fall, Drive Club, The Order, Transistor, Valiant Hearts, New N Tasty, Infamous, etc, etc?...

I'm trying to avoid being insulting, but I have a feeling that you are not as you portray yourself to be.

[iliimaster]

i have none of those games because they don't intrest me i still have infamous 2 to get thru on ps3 ( my ps3 backlog is massive ) thanks to ps+ and my own collection the order ill give u that but waiting for the price drop i got my ps4 for god of war, hoped maybe resistance comes back, uncharted and tlou 2 mainly on top of all that my wiiU games plus my multiplayer fix

[SoapShoes]

You complain about remasters on PS4 and proceed to list remasters for X1. Sounds legit!

[iliimaster]

just listed one buddy but the one i listed is my all time favorite franchise im a gear head and i was saying with one of the main games i was getting ps4 for was being delayed awhole year i coulda put off getting my ps4

[Mr-Zex]

Lemme answer said question with two words:

It won't.

[InMyOpinion]

I'm pretty sure Sony will announce big games that are coming out during the holiday season. We haven't even had E3 yet.

[masterfox]

it will not hurt a damn thing, actually I was kinda surprise a new Uncharted was going to be release in such short period of time in a brand new console with new tech.

[LarVanian]

Yay! The weekly 'How will Uncharted 4's delay affect Sony' is here! I look forward to next weeks edition! But I still have to catch up on the others that have already been released which are bound to be distinct from one another and not be the same. Screw Bloodborne. Who needs it?!

[christian hour]

Its surprising, this article goes in to detail about a lot of other things, like tim schafer discussing psychonauts and Brutal Legend, but which topic gets the headline?

The attention grabbing click baiting one of course. I grow weary of these shenanigans.

Videogame websites have started using the same tactics the likes of Fox News have been using for a long time now.

Why not have "titanfall 2 going multiplat" as the title? Or "Phil Spencer discusses VR technology and project Morpheus"? Or "Tim Schafer keen to revisit Psychonauts"?

Because, it's more ad revenue to pick on Sony as you will pull in people from all sides of this multi-faceted video game camp.

Personally Tim Schafer discussing Pyschonauts is the biggest draw of this article for me.

[quiddd]

It won't hurt Sony.........just give a little dent.............as much of a dent(tiny tiny dent) you got to look as how it gives Sony a killer 2016 line up. This is just conjecture on my part but Uncharted 4, Gran Turismo 7, God of War 4, etc.

[SmokingMonkey]

BloodBorne just picked up all of that slack, no worries.

[TekKing]

It won't hurt Sony at all because it's a delay, not a cancellation. E3 is also coming up and I'm sure Sony will have something to fill its previous spot.

[Provolone24]

People forget about the first 10-11 months of every year because Microsoft manipulates the American gaming media into thinking they have the better games lineup by throwing everything they have on the table all at once. Microsoft has released virtually nothing so far this year and it's going to stay that way until the holidays. This is what they do. Year after year. Even without Uncharted, Sony's 2015 lineup has easily offered a more diverse selection of titles. Not to mention most of them are new IPs: The Order, Bloodborne, Until Dawn, No Man's Sky, Deep Down if it sneaks out this year. Microsoft's 2015 is comprised of the usual installments of Halo, Forza, and Fable, and a timed Tomb Raider exclusive (unless Quantum Break doesn't end up getting delayed).

It really depends on what you wanna play, but if what you wanna play are interesting new experiences, I sure hope you bought a PS4.

[Skankinruby]

People need to really take notes as to what impact exclusives ACTUALLY have on the console war. Look how popular halo is, and that added with the extremely sluggish start for the ps3 and it still couldn't keep Xbox ahead last gen and it surely won't this gen either. Not to mention people keep throwing out the 'ps4 has no games' crap without acknowledging that neither does Xbox. And the couple it had that scored high like sunset overdrive and forza horizon 2 sold terrible so even their loyalists dont care about these exclusives, at least not for much else besides listing them in fanboy arguments. So no, ps4 will not suffer. Uncharted 4 could never come out and it still wouldn't change the momentum this generation.

[KingPin]

lol @ the media. retardness maxxed out.

if sony released uncharted on time and broken, they be like "what a disappointment. this supposed to be their biggest exclusive and its poor quality. sony dropped the ball. this is going to hurt em. sony doom and gloom."

sony delays it coz its a massive exclusive and want it to be the best it can be, the media is all, "how bad will this hurt sony. PS4 has no games, people are waiting for this. how can sony delay it. xbox catching up. big mistake. sony doom and gloom."

[DialgaMarine]

Probably not really, if at all. Besides TloU:R in the summer, and inFamous in the spring, the PS4 really didn't have too many hard hitting AAA exclusives last year, yet it still managed to sell 14.5 million units. With BloodBorne out now and a few more possible exclusives later in the year, on top of all the big third party content, I have a feeling PS4 is gonna do just fine. Let's also not forget the potential of a price cut over the holidays, since Sony remains to be the only one of the big that hasn't done one yet, but still dominated.

[higgins78]

Big time. Not in sales of said hardware, God forbid the chavs don't just lap it up, but certainty in terms of reputation. I'm sorry, but Bloodborne is too niche a game, the majority will barely scratch the surface of it, and with Uncharted 4 now delayed, suddenly a big gap has emerged. Yes, many good/very good multiplatform games will come and go, but (for me) its still 'killer' exclusives which are the heartbeat, and thus far, Sony is severely lacking.

[texore]

Sony has never relied on one big exclusive to sell their console.

[NBT91]

Not as much as forcing ND to release it in an unfinished / rushed state would have done.
"A delayed game is eventually good, but a rushed game is forever bad" ~ Shigeru Miyamoto

And also... You'd think Uncharted was the only exclusive Sony had planned for 2015 or something. There's already been a few exclusives this year, not to mention what is still to come.
And besides exclusives, there are a fantastic lineup of multiplats coming as well... You can still play those too, you know.

[christian hour]

"income tax season"

I stopped reading after that, I don't need a closeminded american view on what is a worldwide industry.

[Silly gameAr]

Still talking about this? Man, move on to different click bait already. One game being delayed by a few months isn't going to break a system, especially when games have been dropping on that system since the start of the new year.

Make it sound like since Uncharted is delayed, all hope is lost or something.

[WizzroSupreme]

Probably not much at all. I mean, PS4s are selling like hotcakes. It's basically a third-party machine with games like Destiny and GTA Remastered leading the way. It's the hype-machine that sold people on Sony this generation and it's doubtful anyone can beat the company's ad model, not this gen.