UPDATE Naughty Dog has apologized and admitted to using the art from Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag. Here’s the post from their website:
“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.”
You can see the revised trailer below, as well as the original story.
It’s completely normal in any form of media to take inspiration from others’ work. When things appear to be more than simply inspiration, however, it can get a little more difficult. The latest trailer for Uncharted 4 appears to have possibly lifted what one Ubisoft employee says was concept art for Assassin’s Creed 4: Black Flag.
Aymar Azaïzia is the head of content for the entire Assassin’s Creed franchise. He’s the one who noticed the striking similarity and posted about it on Twitter.
If you take a look at the two images side-by-side it’s really hard to tell the difference. Aymar noted that the only thing that is actually different is the removal of the person from the beach. Here’s a side-by-side view:
The image in the Uncharted trailer isn’t some subtle thing that appears in the background. There’s a frame completely dedicated to showing the picture on the wall. Sony, Naughty Dog, and Ubisoft have all declined to comment on the issue.