Uncharted 4 Is "End of an Era" for Naughty Dog, Director Says

Uncharted 4: A Thief's End represents the "end of an era" for Naughty Dog as a studio. That's according to co-director Neil Druckmann, who talked about saying goodbye to Nathan Drake in a new interview.

"We get more and more that feeling of this definitely [being] the end of an era for us as a studio," Druckmann said in the latest issue of Official PlayStation Magazine (via GamesRadar). "We've been with this franchise for almost ten years now from inception all the way to this point. Luckily, we don't get too much time to dwell on that feeling because we're so busy, but every once in a while... you know?"

Druckmann also revealed that, after he and Bruce Straley were brought on to co-direct the game in the wake of Amy Hennig's departure, they decided to change the story significantly.

"I remember when Bruce and I came onto the project. A few weeks later we pitched a pretty new story to the team, kind of like a new direction for the project," he recalled. "A lot of things were pretty rough and just slotted in, so there was an ending but it wasn't as well defined, and at some point we defined more of the [plot] thread and a more definitive ending, and we did a second pitch for the team."

Uncharted 4 is the final entry in the series to star Nathan Drake. However, with millions of copies sold and a movie in the works, Uncharted is unquestionably a big-name franchise that still has life left in it.

Originally due to launch in 2015, Uncharted 4 is now slated to arrive in March 2016. The game was delayed in part so that Naughty Dog had enough time to get the ending right. You won't have to wait until 2016 to play, however, as the game's multiplayer beta begins in December.