Uncharted Designer Warns Drake's Fortune Remake Would Be a 'Cash Grab'

Benson Russell, a veteran designer of the original Uncharted series, has spoken out against the possibility of a full remake of Uncharted: Drake's Fortune. Russell argues that revisiting the 2007 title is unnecessary and would likely serve as a commercial exercise rather than an artistic necessity.

In an interview with FRVR, Russell characterized the idea of a remake as a potential "cash grab." He pointed out that the franchise remains culturally relevant, stating that "Uncharted as a thing is still in the zeitgeist," and questioned the utility of a remake when the series is already accessible. Beyond the commercial aspect, Russell warned that a modern overhaul would fundamentally compromise the game's identity. He noted that to improve the title by modern standards, developers would have to rewrite the entire story, which would inevitably change the scenes and the overall spirit of what the first game was about.

The Remake Trend

Uncharted: Drake's Fortune originally launched for the PlayStation 3, establishing the cinematic action-adventure formula that would define Naughty Dog for a decade. While the series has previously been updated via The Nathan Drake Collection—a set of high-definition remasters—rumors of a ground-up remake have circulated for the past two years. This trend mirrors a broader industry shift toward "remake culture," where studios rebuild classic titles from scratch to leverage modern hardware and monetization strategies.

Artistic Integrity vs. Commercialism

Russell's opposition highlights a growing tension between the commercial viability of nostalgia and the preservation of artistic intent. By suggesting that some games are effectively "old for a reason," Russell implies that the limitations and design choices of 2007 are intrinsic to the experience. From his perspective, attempting to "fix" these elements through a remake doesn't just update the graphics; it erases the original intent of the creators. He concluded his stance bluntly, telling FRVR, "Just don’t recreate the first game. It’s just, eh."

Future Directions

Rather than looping back to the beginning of the series, Russell suggested that Naughty Dog would be better served by creating a new game set in the past—essentially a prequel—to expand the lore without overwriting existing work. This perspective comes as Naughty Dog shifts its focus away from the Uncharted universe to develop a new intellectual property titled Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet. Whether the studio will eventually heed the warnings of its former designers or succumb to the market demand for remakes remains to be seen.