In the wee hours of this morning, a new trailer for Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End dropped and during one section of the trailer, series protagonist and half-tuck advocate Nathan Drake glances at a framed print of…Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag concept art.
Yes, the upcoming PlayStation 4 exclusive has a piece of concept art from an entirely different game series in its trailer. Honest mistake? Homage?
Ubisoft didn’t seem to think so as a couple of higher-ups at the company, namely Assassin’s Creed Director of Content Azaïzia Aymar and Creative Director at Ubisoft Montreal Alex Hutchinson took to Twitter to express their disbelief/displeasure:
Naughty Dog responded with a message from the team, stating they were eager to get the story trailer out and they didn’t properly vet the artwork used for the trailer. They take full responsibility for the mistake and apologized to Ubisoft, the original artists and the fans.
The trailer for Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End has been updated and you can watch it here.
Obviously it would have been preferable for all parties if the original trailer didn’t go up with the Assassin’s Creed concept art, but judging by Naughty Dog’s quick response it was an honest mistake and no slight to Ubisoft was intended.
The Ubisoft employees who commented on this were perhaps a little too vindictive about the mishap, although they might still upset about the comments people made regarding the “difficulty” of animating women in Assassin’s Creed: Unity. Turn about is fair play after all.
While nobody has said anything of the sort, it can be inferred that given Uncharted’s position as a major exclusive franchise the game has a lot riding on it and despite being delayed a few times Naughty Dog is under a lot of stress to make sure Uncharted 4 hits its late April release date. While they say they were “eager” to get the trailer out as soon as possible, it can also be interpreted as pressure from Sony caused them to make an error which resulted in concept art from an unrelated franchise being included in the rush to get the trailer completed.
What do you guys think about this? Did Naughty Dog do the unforgivable? Were the responses of the Ubisoft employees too harsh, or were they justified?
