An update on the Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End Story Trailer

"In our eagerness to get the story trailer out we made a regrettable mistake and didn’t thoroughly vet the art work used for an in game painting. We’ve already updated the trailer. We hold all artistry in high regard and take full responsibility for having allowed this to happen.

We want to sincerely apologize to everyone at Ubisoft, the Assassin’s Creed team, the original artist, and our fans."

Naughty Dog

[Genuine-User]

I guess it was a bigger deal than I had originally thought/imagined. I'm glad they fixed the issue within a few hours.

[Kingthrash360]

Yeah, I thought it was overblown but it seems it was as serious as people were saying.
Still I say it's the best game ubisoft has had its artwork in...
Lol I kid, I kid.
What would be funny is if ND was nudging at ubisoft on how their trailers are something you'd expect when released and not a doctored up trailer of a game that would never look that good upon release.

[uptownsoul]

Whew...For a moment there I thought I'd have to cancel my pre-order..........over a single picture (smh)

[Eonjay]

Well case closed. Its gone.

[nveenio]

A bigger deal? How does anyone figure it was a big deal? It was a placeholder that slipped through. An innocent mistake. That's hardly a big deal.

[Pongwater]

@inveni0 - Legally, it's a big deal. Most rational people know the legal system is a joke, but it can still get you in big trouble if you ignore it.

[PrimeGrime]

@inveni0

I could not agree more, I think Watch Dogs bull shots and The Division's bull shots are a much bigger deal in the scheme of things. False advertisement is just as illegal as stealing artwork, yet somehow, Ubisoft manages to get away with it.

Was it a mistake? Yes. Was it right? No. But when the people admit they made the mistake and say their sorry, let alone immediately fix the problem, that says more to me as a developer, than Ubisoft has done for most of their games lately.

[UltraNova]

Classy response from those Naughty...dogs at Santa Monica (pan intended)

That said I dont see Kojima or Del Toro and fans going ape shit over a game called 'Layers of Fear' for using both the idea, the whole corridor area from PT AND the crazy lady who kills in what has to be the biggest 1:1 copy/paste job I've seen to date...

I dont see anyone remembering this as well: https://pbs.twimg.com/media...

But poor ol Ubisoft right?

But when Sony's ND makes a mistake its suddenly the biggest news around. Being the best must really bother some aint it?

[dirkdady]

Big whoop. Move along folks.

[littlezizu]

It was needless controversy created by Internet Pitchfork mob but ND response shows pure class. They way they were able to Edit a part of game even though how small detail it may be in couple of hours shows their Talent.
U4 is gonna be a blast.

[-Alpha]

Taking someone's artwork is not needless controversy. In this case, the work was made for Ubisoft's property

The fact that people still dont get this when ND felt necessary to edit this asset is just stubborn ignorance

Instead of calling it what it is and admitting that a company like ND/a worker can make mistakes, some people would rather bash the media for daring to report news. And yet I see people in the original article blaming the websites...for simply reporting the news.

[Christopher]

Yeah, I don't think it was overblown. It was handled properly by Naughty Dog.

[rainslacker]

The needless part comes in when people pull out their pitchforks before allowing time for the developer to correct the mistake once found.

They didn't vet the image. That means they didn't properly find out if they were allowed to use it. Could have been a placeholder art, but the apology didn't make it seem that way. Seems odd for a placeholder art to be used in such a significant way for such a significant trailer though.

They did correct the problem, and likely have already contacted Ubisoft to see if it's going to be a matter for them to deal with more.

Most of the controversy I saw was from forum goers though. The tweet pointing all this out didn't seem that hostile or upset about it.

[freshslicepizza]

@-Alpha

looking at the amount of disagrees you got it is clear how gamers tend to gain a personal attachment to i.p's/companies/publishers and will often defend them and not want any negativity thrown their way. which of course transpires daily within the forums to an almost gang-like mentality.

it's good naughty dog dealt with it right away, admitted they screwed up and can simply move forward now. i don't see ubisoft making a big stink about it.

[DARKKENT]

@moldy that's with everything in life from gaming to football teams of course people get an attachment...

ND are a classy dev team who created probably the greatest games last gen so if people want to defend them over a 'picture' so what?

A friggin picture which they have now rectified.. The way it's been reported has been ridiculous with dramatic headlines etc.. Yh i see why people have defended ND from the trolls

[freshslicepizza]

@DARKKENT
"ND are a classy dev team who created probably the greatest games last gen so if people want to defend them over a 'picture' so what? "

exactly, so what? this is about fanboys who attack the media for bringing this to light. it's probably better they caught it early is it not? and who said naughty dog wasn't a class act? they are one of the most respected developers but even they can screw up, admit their mistakes and move on. so why side with the whiners who say leave poor old naughty dog alone for making this news? we get a hundred topics a week about hideo kojima who has nothing to say and nothing to show on what he's working on but reporting this is not news?

"A friggin picture which they have now rectified.. The way it's been reported has been ridiculous with dramatic headlines etc.. Yh i see why people have defended ND from the trolls"

that's the media, with everything. to catch your attention. most of the hottest topics are actually not that big of a deal either but many on this site love the drama too.

[DARKKENT]

@moldy there's a difference between siding with as you say 'whiners' and agreeing with why people are pi$$ed.

We've had headlines like 'nd thieves' or 'nd stole' etc.. Sensationalist headlines over a 'picture'.. The media love to pull down people who make a difference for hits.. Considering devs rarely get to spend time with families miss important personal events just so they can meet a deadline (especially when the games are the quality of nd) to give us fun in our hobby, i don't begrudge the few cussing out the media.

We all know the gaming media has been on a downward spiral since the ps3/360 era started.. Biasness untrustworthy and i think when you see the ridiculous headlines over this little corrected mistake people have just had enough.

You talk about gang like mentality.. The media are more guilty of this anyone from accepting bribes to score games higher to ridiculous bully like headlines...

[monkeyDzoro]

They surely didnt want to take any risk.
Especially seeing how this was blown out of proportions...

[Goldby]

it wasn't blown out of proportions though. lets say for a moment, that you created a new game called Funzone and it was the big hit shooter for the year of release. and then a few years later, theres a tv show that uses your game without your approval. still seems ok?

that concept art is Ubisoft's Property. legally speaking. ND Stole it because it wasn't theres to begin with and most likely didn't contact Ubi for approval. i hope Ubi see's it as a human error and doesn't take legal action. and good on Neil for coming clean about it. even if it wasn't his decision.

[-Foxtrot]

So nobody is getting slapped with a fish then

Shame.

[Goldby]

give me a list or your mortal enemies, i shall begin the cod slapping at once

[-Foxtrot]

I quickly read what you wrote and thought you said "cock" instead of "cod"

lol

[AnotherProGamer]

Its weird I see lots of games taken concept art from other games all the time, yet no big deal is made out of it

I remember Destiny cover is a concept art image with a large white sphere added in, there are many old games that blatantly take covers from movies and use it as a cover for their game

[RhymeNorReason]

It really shows that people like you who "claim" they can see the difference between 1080p and 900p saying the images looked "slightly different" (in the other article) really are just delusional.

[showtimefolks]

so now ND are the best at saying my bad lol

no worries game looks amazing and words can't describe my excitement

[Xb1ps4]

I didn't catch it... What did nd do exactly? Did the pic say assassins creed or something? If that's the case how do you make a mistake like that?

[ThyMasterDebater]

These kinda things happen. as someone who has been around games being created..when games are getting created they put in place holders for the time being until the actual art is ready to be put in. Sometimes they even do it just for inspiration but mostly to get a picture of what they are aim for. Some companies put the word w.i.p over top all place holders for this very reason. Never the less at first I thought it might be an Easter egg but it was clearly a place holder that was not removed. I'm surprised it made this big of a deal tbh.

[lvl_headed_gmr]

Reviews the updated trailer...

Still no gameplay....

Naughty Dog misled with 1st trailer
Naughty Dog can't hit 1080p on multiplayer on the PS4
Naughty Dog steals footage
Can't hit 60fps on the single player

We'll just ignore the constant delays and the BS choose your answer wheel to try and stretch game time....

Neil Druckman's Naughty Dog is a shell of Naughty Dog's former self.

I have low expectations for this game.

[NatureOfLogic_]

Good, Now continue making the GOTY masterpiece that is Uncharted 4.

[lvl_headed_gmr]

Hate to break it to you....

Quantum Break will be 2016's GOTY.

Uncharted 4 will make for a great runner up though.

[NatureOfLogic_]

Quantum Break? What's that?

[-Alpha]

I imagine whoever they outsourced this to/used the asset is in some trouble. They even edited the person out of the original picture.

[Christopher]

The artist who made it for Ubisoft now works for Naughty Dog. Bad form on his part to reuse art seeing as Ubisoft owns his past works.

[-Alpha]

Ah, I see. You would think he would know better. Probably didnt think much of it, but I imagine Ubisoft wasnt pleased

[Eonjay]

@-Alpha

I don't think anyone involved was pleased and I think the artist feels embarrassed.

On a side note, how lucky was ND to have added that to the trailer to uncover the artist's screwup.

[Christopher]

Yeah, you can bet they are doing another check of every art asset now. This would have been a lot worse if found at release in the game.

[DragonDDark]

I'm going to hell for this but...

The game looks way better now! ;D

[the_dark_one]

you and me both, i like this pic alot more :D its more forestry(dont even know if thats a real word lol)

[Kal-V3]

They should remove the art and update the trailer as it is someone else's artwork, but people making a big deal out of this is just petty.

Edit: Wait...did this trailer just receive a patch?! LOL

Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End Story Trailer V1.1

[DoomeDx]

They did that

[Kal-V3]

I meant it as they should have removed the art, as in i agree with it already being removed.

[Eonjay]

Yes!LOL They patched the trailer lol.
Welcome to 2016.

[Kal-V3]

I was just joking really. Not saying bad about anything. I'm looking forward to Uncharted 4 day one.

[Relientk77]

Trailer's can get patches now omg we are doomed what is next

They try to demo games on the E3 stage and they dont work..HOLD ON FOLKS we have to patch our E3 demo if you patiently wait 20 minutes that would be great

[PrimeGrime]

Agreed, I personally think Ubisoft has some balls with all the crap they've pulled in the past and even now, to bother with this. Like I said, why don't they have the audacity to admit what they've done wrong before pointing fingers at others?

I'm still waiting for the day they own up to falsely advertising their games. Watch Dogs was one of the best examples of this.

[FoxyGotGame]

Soon after I watched Uncharted 4 Story Trailer, I had to lay down and keep it together.

Even a die hard PC Gamer friend of mine had said to me he could not believe Naughty Dog were making games with visuals that look better (his words) than anything he had seen on PC. That's truly a compliment if I ever heard one.

[KwietStorm_BLM]

I mean just look at it. It honestly is hard to believe these graphics are on a console.

[Majister-Ludi]

Oh really ps guy lol your "friend" probably has a top of the line pc as well I bet. I'm not gonna bother because if you think this is the best looking game ever you can't be helped. Too much negativity OK stop. I can't wait to play.

[PrimeGrime]

I'm mainly a PC gamer, and my rig is plenty nice enough. I'll tell you the same thing in a heart beat.

Like it or not, the PS4 has some very nice looking exclusives. It was the same thing when the PS3 first came out, it gave PC's a good run for their money at that time until PC hardware started getting a lot better.

DriveClub is another good example of a game that always continues to amaze me graphically, as well. I have Project Cars on PC, and even at maxed settings, although it does look very very nice, it isn't as graphically realistic as DriveClub. Yea, I can run it at a higher resolution, a way higher frame rate, but it doesn't make it look more realistic than DriveClub.

So seeing Uncharted 4 looking this good, doesn't surprise me so much.

A game only looks as good as the developer can make it, sure better hardware helps, but if the developer can't make good looking games, the most powerful PC rig in the world isn't going to make it look any better.

[FoxyGotGame]

@Majister-Ludi

It's not my intention to inflame anything, and I respect your opinion. But I am not a PC Gamer and haven't seen the best PC can do as a result. It was not me who made the statement, it was my (as you put it) "Friend" who made that statement. I am wise enough to know when somebody is unjustifiably calling me out as a Liar, that's fine, I'm not moved by that.

...I'm just sorry some people are so G'dang paranoid to the point that everybody is a potential liar when it doesn't gel well with your philosophy.

[generic-user-name]

The Order and Driveclub already look better than anything on any other platform.

PC Master race have the best fidelity/sharpness with 4k but that's not the same thing as having the best visuals. You can have an 8k game of Tetris and it won't look better than TLoU at 1080p.

[SlightlyRetarted]

Wow, i found web cam footage of the employee who but that painting in to the trailer!

https://media.giphy.com/med...

[destroyerz1]

Now we know what Remedy was doing there #Sabotage #lol

[Germany7]

I don't know if i can forgive, my feelings are hurt. :(

[SynestheticRoar]

Uncharted bitches tell your freinds.

[Pedantic91]

In just a few hours, ND nipped the artwork in the bud pretty damn fast.

Good on them for admitting their mistake.

[Inzo]

Shows you their class.

[Christopher]

To be honest, this is what they are supposed to do when this sort of thing happens.

What's that Chris Rock bit: You want a cookie for doing what you're supposed to do?

[Bathyj]

I aint never bin to prison.

[Imalwaysright]

@ Christopher

Randy Pitchford.

[Inzo]

Ta-Daa, itss..gone.

[TheHunter81]

It's Naughty Dog, they get a pass. Small issue.

[Christopher]

I hope the artist who knowingly did it doesn't get a pass. It would really only be a problem with ND if they knowingly kept it in the game. But this fast turn around and their own words show this is not the case.

[ziggurcat]

he'll likely just get a stern talking to (i.e "hey... try not to use artwork you've done for another game again because we can get sued for that"), but I doubt it'd amount to anything more than that.

[PrimeGrime]

Is it that unrealistic to think it was an honest mistake? Developers work hard, and this could've happened to anyone who's been working on a game of this scale.

What happened to all the bullshit Ubisoft has pulled? Things that were completely intentional, things they've never owned up to. Yea, I keep repeating this subject, because I find it absolutely ridiculous coming from people like Ubisoft.

Maybe they should work on making their games look like they advertise them, before they start calling others out on their mistakes.

[UltraNova]

@Prime

True. People like to forget or remember facts in a very selective capacity.

Its Ubisoft who complaints for falsehood for crying loud, the King of falsehood.

https://pbs.twimg.com/media...

That said the artwork is Ubi's copyright and ND handled the whole thing as expected. But I wouldn't be surprised if Ubi went legal with this. I mean why not they could easily try shading U4's release while a certain other Ubi AAA game comes out in April as well...

[Christopher]

"Is it that unrealistic to think it was an honest mistake?"

Using old artwork that you made for a former employer can't be an "honest" mistake. You would purposefully have to use some old artwork that you know was already used for a company while working for a new company that knowingly expects you to create hew artwork for them. He even modified the old artwork to not include the image of the protagonist of the old game. He shouldn't of ever had this art work since it belongs to his former employer.

[InTheLab]

Damn they fixed this before I could even make it through the that other thread :/

[Imalwaysright]

ND, through Neil, showed integrity by owning up to the mistake they made and by fixing it extremely fast.

[Ethereal]

Shit happens. Glad to see them own up to it.

[NovaCorps]

men screw ubisoft you actually did give AC4 some exposure again and they should thank you for that lol

[Silly gameAr]

I guess I missed the crap storm, but it seems like it was over something minor that got blown out of proportion, as usual.

[Tsunade]

End of story and Uncharted 4 is the best looking game in any console. That is what matters.

[OtakuDJK1NG-Rory]

yeah keyword "Best Looking"
definitely. Should get a movie award too.

[Relientk77]

I'm glad they made it right

[Rimeskeem]

What did they change in the trailer?

[Relientk77]

http://n4g.com/news/1868590...

the one piece of art

[Rimeskeem]

ah, thanks you :)

[Bathyj]

“I’ve never heard of such a brutal and shocking injustice that I cared so little about!” - Zapp Brannigan

[SweatyFlorida]

"Look at that painting, now complain on forums, look back at that painting, it's no longer there, your wondering if it was all an illusion all along, now go back to gaming forums, now look back at that trailer, now look at me, now back to the trailer, now back to me, I see your jaw's dropped, yes indeed that trailer looks sick, glad we can get back to the important things."

[DafunkyRebel]

I'm more concern about the people who are so bored and suicidal that they would even notice a one second piece of art work in a 2 minute trailer

[Christopher]

The person who recognized it works for Ubisoft and helped put together the book it was in.

[Yetter]

Of course they owned up to it, they f'd up and got caught. I like NaughtyDog games too but this isn't some sort of shining example of how to handle this, it is literally what every single company would do in the same situation.

[LuckyChamCham]

That's that then.

[Keregan]

Comparing what was showed at last E3 and what we see in the trailer, it looks like the game was badly downgraded. Wouldn't be the first time in ND's case though

[dRanzer]

Rofl
N4G present : new Troll

[Theparanerds]

I don't think people notice Uncharted is just Tomb Raider...now that's stealing!

[WilliamSheridan]

Man, in this generation even Trailers are getting Updates! Damn!

/s