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The big picture: Among the several former PlayStation exclusives Sony brought to PC this year, signs point to Naughty Dog’s last two Uncharted games experiencing the lowest player numbers. Whatever factors influenced its release, Uncharted’s performance could influence Sony’s PC port strategy.
The Uncharted: Legacy of Thieve’s Collection PC port seems to have peaked at a fraction of the player count as other Sony titles on Steam. The primary cause behind the lukewarm launch is unclear, but multiple factors countered this.
The bundle, including Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End and the standalone expansion Uncharted: Lost Legacy, peaked at just under 11,000 players, according to SteamDB. Days Gone more than doubled that, while other former PlayStation exclusives doubled the Uncharted numbers at least fivefold. Uncharted also failed to crack the top 100 titles on Steam.
Horizon Zero Dawn peaked at over 56,000 players, while Spider-Man Remastered hit somewhere north of 66,000 and God of War hit nearly 75,000. SteamDB’s numbers are just rough estimates, but they show a sharp drop for Uncharted. Sony’s PC games are also available on the Epic Games Store, but there’s no reason to believe that Uncharted alone would get a larger share of that store’s sales.
Uncharted’s biggest problem probably comes down to timing. Sony and Iron Galaxy released the title against Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II, A Plague Tale: Requiem, and Gotham Knights. Meanwhile, Sony released its other PC ports during quieter times of the year.
The problem is the age of the game. Uncharted 4 is the oldest title Sony has brought to PC, originally launched on PlayStation 4 in 2016. The PS5 edition of Legacy of Thieves came out in January this year, but a six-year-old game may still face headwinds when migrating to a new platform.
Many would-be PC players are probably worried they’ll feel lost if they start a franchise with the fourth entry. God of War is a soft reboot and distinct from its previous games, but Uncharted 4 follows three other entries not available on PC. Sony’s other PC releases are also mostly standalone titles or inaugural entries in their respective series.
Perhaps releasing a PC port of Uncharted: The Nathan Drake Collection – the set that brought the original PlayStation 3 trilogy to the PS4 – could bring more players on board. However, the achievements of Legacy of Thieves Collection may keep Sony from going further back in time.
It’s not just about age, though. One of the most requested Sony PC conversions is 2015’s Bloodborne. The PS4 remake of Shadow of the Colossus could also do well on PC.
Sony confirmed that the next PC exports will include Sackboy: A Big Adventure on October 27 and Spider-Man: Miles Morales on November 18. Leaks also indicate that a PC version of the award-winning Returnal is imminent.
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