Revolutionizing the action-adventure genre for the modern age, the firstUnchartedreleased all the way back in 2007. Over a decade and five games later, and theUnchartedseries has finally reached its end, at least for now. Offering some ofthe most thrilling action set pieces in all of gaming, it’s no wonder that theUnchartedfranchise is one of Sony’s best first-party offerings, but despite its legacy, theUncharted: Legacy of Thievescollection just didn’t hit the mark when it released on PC recently.
Over the last few years, Sony has been gradually bringing its library of modern first-party titles over to the PC via Steam. Beginning withHorizon Zero Dawn, these first-party Sony ports have always been immense successes, topping the Steam sales charts in their first week of release. But for a few reasons, theUncharted: Legacy of Thievescollection hasn’t been able to achieve the same level of success.
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Why Uncharted’s PC Release Didn’t Do As Well as God of War, Horizon, or Spider-Man
According to SteamDB, theUncharted: Legacy of Thievescollection had a peak player count of just 10,851 in its first week of release. At the time of writing, that player count has dropped significantly, with a 24-hour peak of just 3846. For comparison,Horizon Zero Dawnmanaged to achieve a player count of over 55,000 in its first week, whileMarvel’s Spider-Manhad over 65,000.God of Warmanaged to achieve the highest of the lot, with over 72,000 players jumping in on launch week. Even one of Sony’s biggest first-party commercial and critical flops,Days Gone, managed to achieve a peak player count of over 26,000 players.
Put simply,Unchartedon PC is not performing nearly as well as Sony’s past first-party ports, and there are a few potential factors that could explain this. Perhaps the biggest factor is that the games included in theUncharted: Legacy of Thievescollection are not nearly as new as Sony’s recent ports. While theLegacy of Thievescollection itself released just earlier this year, the games within,Uncharted 4: A Thief’s EndandUncharted: The Lost Legacy, are getting on a bit now, releasing in 2016 and 2017 respectively.
Chances are that those who already had a vested interest in theUnchartedfranchise have already played those two titles long before their Steam release. On the other hand,Uncharted: Legacy of Thievesalso fails to attract any newcomers, with potential new players being unlikely to want to jump in for the first time in the series' final installment, and a spin-off set after.God of War,Horizon,Spider-Manand evenDays Gonehave managed to capture a slew of brand-new players, as they’re the first games in their respective series.
The game’s marketing has also played a large factor in its success on Steam. For each of Sony’s past ports, a great deal of marketing has been pushed out, ensuring that every PC player knows exactly when the game is coming to Steam, and what enhancements that port will be receiving.Unchartedjust hasn’t had the same level of pre-release marketing. Similarly, the last few Sony ports have managed to ride on the coattails of upcoming sequels, withGod of War Ragnarok,Spider-Man 2, andHorizon Forbidden Westall in the works at the time of their release on Steam, whileUnchartedis currently on indefinite hiatus. The final nail inUncharted’s coffin is that Sony may have bitten off more than it can chew, withSackboy: A Big Adventurereleasing just a few days agoandSpider-Man: Miles Moralesset to release in just a few weeks' time. With all of these first-party releases landing so close together, it’s easy for each one to be overshadowed.
Uncharted: Legacy of Thievesis available now on PC and PS5.
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