‘Uncharted 4’ Shipment Stolen, Copies Now Circulating Online — Director Warns Against Spoilers

We are almost at the launch of Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End, but ironically, some of the copies of the game ended up in the hands of real thieves. A criminal investigation has just launched regarding the stolen shipment of Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End in United Kingdom.

In a post in the PlayStation Blog, Sony President Shuhei Yoshida reveals that a number of copies of Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End ended up in the wrong hands while in transit.

“We have some unfortunate news to report that a number of copies of Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End were stolen while in transit. While we are continuing to work with the police to resolve the matter – which is the subject of an ongoing criminal investigation – it appears that a few copies of the game have surfaced in the UK.

“We know that very many of you have been looking forward with great anticipation and excitement to the latest masterpiece from Naughty Dog. From what I have played of Nathan Drake’s latest adventure, I can tell you that it is very much worth the wait. 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 the game. 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 spoilt by not purchasing copies of the game ahead of the launch date. Please rest assured we will be very vigilant to protect you from this as far as we can so you can enjoy Uncharted 4‘s experience to its fullest on May 10th.”

With the news that Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End copies were taken unlawfully from the cargo truck, it seems rogue copies of Uncharted 4 are now circulating around the internet. As of yesterday, Eurogamer already reported to have seen copies of Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End selling on eBay for as much as £90.

Eurogamer claims they have already spoken with an eBay seller who claims that the UK government arm responsible for tax collection already got their hands on some 10,000 copies of Uncharted 4 due to unpaid VAT. This same eBay seller also claims that the HM Revenue & Customers are already selling these copies themselves.

This officially signals that the street date of Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End has already been broken, with Amazon rumored to be shipping Uncharted 4 copies earlier and UK retailer CEX having already delivered a rogue Uncharted 4 copy.

As of now, those who were able to get their hands on the stolen copies of Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End will already have full access to the campaign portion of Uncharted 4. However, multiplayer for Uncharted 4 is still locked since the official release date of Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End is still supposed to be on the May 10.

In time for the terrible fate of Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End, the game’s creative director, Neil Druckmann, joins Yoshida in discouraging people from giving into leaks, with still two weeks into the release of Uncharted 4. In a tweet, Druckmann warns Uncharted 4 fans to stay vigilant and stay away from rogue leaks now that they will be harder to control due to the rogue copies selling everywhere.

Uncharted 4 is just two weeks away! As we get closer it’ll get harder and harder to control leaks. Stay vigilant. Big surprises in store.

— Neil Druckmann (@Neil_Druckmann) April 26, 2016

It has been reported earlier that Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End will tackle Nathan Drake’s mysterious childhood. And to fully enjoy Uncharted 4’s huge and explosive ending, Naughty Dog advises players to go through the whole journey and veer away from packaged ending spoilers.

Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End is officially launching on May 10, 2016, exclusively on PlayStation 4. Watch the newest gameplay trailer of Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End below.

[Image via Naughty Dog]