Estonian developer Witenovastudio OÜ currently lists the game “28 Floors: Outbreak” in the official PlayStation Store, which uses unauthorized character models of Nathan Drake as well as enemy assets similar to the Clickers from The Last of Us.
The game is being announced as a first-person survival horror title for 2027, even though Sony has no connection to the project. While on the one hand, shovelware is being massively removed, there seem to be no limits whatsoever when it comes to blatant asset theft being incorporated into their own store.
Brazen asset theft in the official store
The game "28 Floors: Outbreak" uses for its PS5 Store presence The screenshots clearly show copyrighted content from Naughty Dog. The model of Nathan Drake as the protagonist is unmistakably visible in the published screenshots. Additionally, the images depict creatures that are visually almost indistinguishable from the Clickers in The Last of Us universe. Cynically, users are noting... Reddit to: “Sony getting plagiarized on their own store.”
The fact that such a project goes through Sony's certification process casts a shadow on the PlayStation Store's automated curation. This is neither an official collaboration nor an Easter egg. Witenovastudio OÜ is an indie developer that has already made a name for itself with titles like "Comfy Corners" and "Wednesday 13th," which is clearly inspired by the Netflix series.
Compared to platforms like Steam, which are known (and infamous) for their openness, the PlayStation Store was long considered a curated space. However, this incident joins a growing list of "asset flips" and low-quality copies that are increasingly diluting the visibility of high-quality titles.
Naughty Dog's focus lies elsewhere.
While Nathan Drake is being exploited for cheap horror games on the PlayStation Store, the official future of the Uncharted series remains sealed: Naughty Dog has concluded the franchise with the fourth installment and the standalone DLC. The studio is currently working on the sci-fi project "Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet." It is expected that Sony will remove "28 Floors: Outbreak" from the listing once its legal department has reviewed the case.
The only advice here is: steer clear. This game is a classic asset-flip, ripping off others to grab attention. The fact that titles like this make it into the store shows that Sony has relaxed its manual quality control in favor of a higher quantity of releases. Players should always be critical of listings from unknown studios that advertise with well-known names.
