Sony’s San Diego Studio Working on “Existing Franchises”

Sometimes it amazes me the length that some people go to to find tiny details that no one would ever notice in a million years. Everyone who finds these “leaks,” as it were, always finds the dullest thing possible. They then spring it into the idea that the entire ship is being breached, and it is about to go down. Part of me wants to say this is the same thing.

According to the LinkedIn profile of Michael L. Mumbauer – as spotted by those of Resetera – one of his most recent achievements is “having built a brand new, all-star, AAA Action/Adventure development team for Playstation.” Mumbauer has worked on several Sony titles in years gone by, including series such as The Last of Us, God of War, Killzone, Death Stranding, Marvel’s Spider-Man, and Uncharted. However, he had left the Sony San Diego Studio this past November, which he’d been at since 2007.

The speculation from the Resetera post assumes several things, including the joke possibilities of Knack 3 and a sequel to The Mark of Kri. There are some speculating, including those over at VG247, that this will be an Uncharted project from the team that Mumbauer had set up before leaving his position as Studio Head. In all likelihood, if the team is working as Mumbauer says, “this team was assembled to expand upon existing franchises and craft all[-]new stories for the next generation of gamers,” it makes sense that the project would be Uncharted.

While others look at other portions of Mumbauer’s profile and point to a featured video claiming: “Uncharted 5 is 100% happening because I’ve got a thumbnail with Nathan Drake and “It’s Happening,” so you can’t call this speculation.” Well, the video is from 2018 (a year after the last game) and is just that, speculation on a rumor. Much like the grown hype around this tiny piece of information in a small portion of the internet that no one would have thought to look at otherwise, it is nothing more than speculation on an inconsequential piece of information.

Studios are bound to do this all the time, creating small teams of well-experienced developers feeling out an idea and seeing where it could go. Could it be something? Possibly but that wouldn’t be confirmed for another year and a half to two years before a trailer is released. Take this for what it is, a former employee of the company noting what they did in their last act with the company before they move on to something else. There is no word on what Michael Mumbauer is set to do next.