Copies of Uncharted 4 stolen during “violent assault”

A number of copies of Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End were stolen in what is being labelled a “violent assault”.

Shuhei Yoshida, President of Sony Worldwide Studios, took to the PlayStation Blog earlier today to reveal that an unconfirmed number of copies of the highly anticipated fourth instalment in the action-adventure series were stolen 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,” wrote Yoshida.

“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.”

A spokesperson later confirmed to MCV that a “violent assault” took place on a lorry transporting copies of the game, amongst other products.

“We can confirm that unfortunately some contents from a lorry transporting a variety of video game and DVD titles, including a quantity of the much anticipated Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End, was stolen in the UK, during a violent assault,” said the spokesperson told MCV.

“We are doing everything in our power to assist the police in their ongoing criminal investigation.

Uncharted 4 is scheduled to hit stores on May 10th and the spokesperson confirmed that the release date remained unaffected.

The spokesperson added, “We would like to reassure our players and partners that we are taking all possible steps to make the launch of Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End the success it deserves to be for the millions of fans of Naughty Dog and the Uncharted series.”

Yoshida also warned fans of potential spoilers that could be leaked from the stolen copies and urged fans not to purchase any copies of the game ahead of it’s official release.

“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,” added Yoshida.

“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.”

Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End begins three years following the end of the events of Uncharted 3, which Drake has settled down with his new wife Elena. But his life is thrown into chaos his elder brother assumed dead, Sam, returns.

Sam tells Drake that they must find a legendary pirate artefact as his life hangs in the balance. The two then journey to Libertaria, a pirate colony in Madagascar, in search of the artefact but come across two other rivals, Rafe and Nadine, also trying to find the artefact.

Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End is out May 10th exclusively for PlayStation 4.