We might be a long way off from getting an Uncharted 4, or any other spinoff to the series that doesn't involve cards (a card game was recently released on the PS Vita, much to everyone's dismay), but players of Uncharted 3 will be happy to know that the game's multiplayer portion is now free-to-play.
Naughty Dog announced that Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception multiplayer goes free to play today in the US, and tomorrow in Europe. The studio teased the announcement late last year.
The development will inject a much needed boost to the game's online community, which sees half a million players each much. At its peak, the game saw 3.5 million players worldwide who played over 37 million matches since the game's release. All free-to-play players will join this community without having to purchase the base game.
There is however a slight limitation to the free-to-play version of the game, as you're capped at level 15. You'll be able to keep playing the game for free for as long as you like, but you'll have to pay to unlock the rest of the game.
The things you'll be able to unlock include raising the cap to level 25, removing the level cap entirely, split-screen co-op mode, co-op adventure mode, co-op arena mode, the single player experience, and DLC map packs.
Existing owners of Uncharted 3 will receive a host of goodies the next time they log online in the game. You will receive a special Naughty Dog Paw on your rank icon and a Naughty Dog shirt for your custom characters.
Finally, the development will see the addition of new customization features for characters, including free color options.
Naughty Dog says that they intend to release 40 additional DLC items in the coming months. One assumes that they'll be working on Uncharted 3 concurrent to their development of The Last of Us, which is slated for a mid-year release.