80% of PS4 Owners Never Played Uncharted, Naughty Dog Says

According to Naughty Dog's own research, around 80 percent of PlayStation 4 owners have never played an Uncharted game. That's part of the reason why the developer says in a new interview that it believes the upcoming PS4 compilation pack Uncharted: The Nathan Drake Collection can be successful.

"It's pretty massive," Naughty Dog's Eric Monacelli said in an interview with MCV about the pool of PS4 owners who have never played any game in the action-adventure series. "We did a lot of research and discovered that about 80 percent of the people that own a PS4 have never played Uncharted, period. That was one of the reasons why we thought remastering it would be a good idea."

Sony said previously that almost 50 percent of PS4 owners never purchased a PS3. To accommodate those owners who are new to the PlayStation ecosystem, executive Andrew House previously said that Sony was looking to remaster back-catalog games for the PS4. Sony has already released remastered versions of PS3 games God of War 3 and The Last of Us. Looking ahead, the company recently said it would consider a Killzone HD compilation, while other franchises are also being considered.

Overall, Monacelli said Naughty Dog's expectations for The Nathan Drake Collection "are high." Sony is putting some heavy marketing weight behind it, too, as the company has created a TV ad for the game using Aerosmith's "Sweet Emotion." The ad plays regularly during primetime programming in the US.

The Nathan Drake Collection, which includes 1080p/60fps versions of the PS3 games Drake's Fortune, Among Thieves, and Drake's Deception (but not PS Vita title Golden Abyss), was developed by Bluepoint Games, not Naughty Dog. It launches on October 9 and also comes with access to the Uncharted 4: A Thief's End multiplayer beta, which begins in December.

For more on The Nathan Drake Collection, check out GameSpot's review and what other critics are saying.