A whole bunch of copies of the upcoming PlayStation 4 video game “Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End” were stolen as they were being shipped to retailers, Sony Worldwide Studios boss Shuhei Yoshida announced on Wednesday.
The announcement of the probably-exciting heist was scant on details, just that copies were “stolen while in transit” and Sony is cooperating with police in investigating the matter. Yoshida also said some of the stolen copies have popped up in the U.K., so it’s likely the hijacking happened in Europe.
Oddly enough, Yoshida seems to have issued a statement about the video game heist pretty much just to warn fans about a possible influx of spoilers: “As with most Naughty Dog games, the unfolding story is such an integral part of the experience and for this reason we wanted to warn you to beware of the potential for spoilers to be posted by people with access to stolen copies of
“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 spoiled by not purchasing copies of
That last bit is interesting. It’s not unusual at all to be able to purchase a copy of a new game before its release date from a legitimate retailer if you live in a major city. Several small video game stores in Los Angeles regularly break street date by selling new games as soon as they receive them from the publisher. That, obviously, is not the same as selling stolen copies, even if Sony doesn’t like either practice.
In any case, the official release date for “Uncharted 4” is May 10. It’s planned as the final “Uncharted” from series creator Naughty Dog, and the conclusion of the story of series protagonist Nathan Drake.