Will it be a Thief’s End for anyone with a copy of Uncharted 4 before the release date?
[dropcap size=small]S[/dropcap]ony recently revealed a shipment of Naughty Dog’s highly anticipated Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End – which will see the return of treasure-hunting hero, Nathan Drake – has been stolen in transit. The copies are now said to be making the rounds in the UK, just short of a few weeks ahead of its May 10th release date.
The news came via a PlayStation blog post by President of Worldwide Studios, Shuhei Yoshida:
We have some unfortunate news to report that a number of copies of Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End were stolen while in transit. While we are continuing to work with the police to resolve the matter – which is the subject of an ongoing criminal investigation – it appears that a few copies of the game have surfaced in the UK
Eurogamer also reported that some of the copies had already found their way onto e-Bay for high price tags (in the region of £99). The site contacted one seller, who claimed the copies had surfaced because ‘HM Revenue & Customs had seized 10,000 copies of the game over unpaid VAT,’ but it all seems very suspect. The listing has since been pulled, but any e-Bay sellers found peddling the title are sure to find themselves involved in the criminal investigation raised by Sony.
With barely two weeks left until the official release of the title, Yoshida was quick to reiterate the hard work put in by the game’s creators, and urged players to avoid buying the stolen copies:
An extremely talented team has worked long and hard to bring Nathan Drake’s greatest adventure to life and we would urge you to help us prevent this from being spoilt by not purchasing copies of the game ahead of the launch date. Please rest assured we will be very vigilant to protect you from this as far as we can so you can enjoy Uncharted 4’s experience to its fullest on May 10th.
The publicity surrounding the stolen copies is sure to add to the big old hype machine surrounding the game’s official release.
PlayStation have not stated that gamers will be chastised if found playing the game ahead of time on their consoles, but it’s risky business. With such a short amount of time left until it’s officially released, it’s nonsensical to endorse criminal activity just to get into Drake’s shoes a week or so before everyone else.
You can’t help but notice the irony of a game with pirates and stolen treasure – that has ‘Thief’ in its title – getting stolen and pirated off overseas. We know this isn’t the sort of piracy Drake’s used to, but it’s still a sorry state of affairs.
Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End is available on PS4 May 10th. Don’t side with the real pirates, stay on Drake’s side and just wait it out a little bit longer.
