Well, this would have been a mind-melting moment, wouldn't it? Speaking as part of an interview with A.V. Club, Bruce Straley has hinted that Naughty Dog wanted to put Crash Bandicoot into Uncharted 4: A Thief's End. The senior employee, who's serving as the game director on the forthcoming PlayStation 4 exclusive, alluded that discussions had taken place – but were ultimately fruitless.
"There's actually been a conversation about if it were at all possible – which it's not, let me emphasise – but we wanted to put a Crash Bandicoot game inside," he teased. "Not gonna happen, though – don't worry. It's not our title. Sony doesn't own it, so we don't have control."
The know-it-alls among you will already be well aware that Activision actually owns the rights to the popular PSone platforming property – in fact, the PlayStation maker never officially owned the character at all. We're sure that there's been constant conversation between the two companies regarding a potential reacquisition of the dormant hero, but we doubt that it'll ever happen at this point.
Then again, we said the same about Shenmue III, didn't we?
[source avclub.com, via neogaf.com]
Comments 25
Sony is building a good relationship with Activision this gen. So hopefully they can work something out to bring Crash back to PS4.
Crash'll be back. In fact if Yooka-Laylee does any good we might just see a wee resurgence of platformers. Problem is a company like Activision doesn't know when to stop and would just drive it back into the ground again.
@KratosMD Agreed, I'd love to play a new Spyro (eww Skylanders) and Crash game on the PS4.
So according to him it's not going to happen because they don't own Crash... But what about Jak and Daxter...? They own that. Why can't they put their own creation in it?
After having Crash skip PS All Stars BR, I highly doubt they are gonna do it here.
But after seeing them putting Bowser and DK in Skylanders and actually messing with the characters themselves, they could do something if enough money is involved. We are talking Activi$ion here.
I don't get why these companies won't release a character they have no interest in to a company that do...
What do activision gain by holding back crash?
@unionjack3rd Well..potentially a lot. That's why IP's are worth money. Same way you would sit on any investment. Especially if you got other stuff going on. Yes, its frustrating for the fans but what you gunna do? Even us discussing it now is helping increase its value. Basic stuff really.
@kyleforrester87 I totally get what you're saying and do agree too..
But they really don't seem like they want. To do anything with him...but then again if the platformer genre takes off like you said it's a great investment.
Best thing is I dint really like crash...I liked a game called croc if you remember that one!
So SONY doesn't own Crash Bandicoot - That is just SAD That is one of the most stupid things SONY has done EVER :-/ It's like Nintendo getting rid of Mario Oh well.
@unionjack3rd Ha, of course, actually Croc was probably my favourite 3D platformer. Not everyone liked it that much, though.
@Carl-G Nah, man. Sony never owned Crash Bandicoot. They had a contract with Universal to publish the original games but Universal still owned the IP. Once the contract was up, Universal still owned Crash and Sony moved onto Jak and Daxter.
Really was a dumb move. They gave up a goldmine. That's probably why now they always request IP ownership whenever they publish a game.
As for the article, that's really upsetting. I would have loved to see what they could do with Crash Bandicoot within the Uncharted universe. Like when Max Payne 3 featured Captain Baseball Boy cartoon series. Loved it!
Shame we'll never see that with Crash.
@Carl-G "That is one of the most stupid things SONY has done EVER :-/" How So? It was never theirs to own in the first place.
I'd love a new Crash. Is Sony really incapable of making a deal with Activision?
@3Above @DrRockso87 @Carl-G Yep, this is why Sony always mandates IP ownership of any property it publishes now. It may peeve developers, but they don't want to find themselves in this situation again.
@WebHead I would be utterly shocked if discussions haven't taken place on numerous occasions. The problem is that the Crash Bandicoot brand holds more value to Sony than anyone else, and I suspect Activision is aware of that. Just pulling numbers out of my ass to illustrate the point: if you figure the IP's probably worth $10 million to any other company, it's probably worth double that to Sony. Does that make sense?
I'd love to see Crash come back. The series was and still is one of my favorites, and it's been sad to see the series fall like a rock recently.
I'd rather not have Activision at the helm though. They'd rob it of it's soul and turn it into Wumpa Style Mountain Dew.
@get2sammyb " We're sure that there's been constant conversation between the two companies regarding a potential reacquisition of the dormant hero, but we doubt that it'll ever happen at this point.
Then again, we said the same about Shenmue III, didn't we?"
And Final Fantasy VII, And Final Fantasy XV, AND The Last Guardian! lol
When reading the title of the article for some reason I was seeing Crash Bandicoot in that game play demo in place of Sully. I should really go back to bed
@kyleforrester87 Are you kidding me? You preferred Croc to Mario 64?!
@Dodoo haha I really didn't like Mario 64, or Sunshine. Maybe one day I'll try one of the Galaxy games but I havnt owned a Nintendo home console since the GC. Dunno why I never got on with Mario 64 :/
Edit: I fully appreciate M64 is a better game than Croc lol
@kyleforrester87 Well that's fair enough mate, we're all different after all
Funny enough my girlfriend shares your view as Croc is her fav overall game, let alone platformer! She's not much of a gamer though, lol!
@Dodoo I guess I had no allegiance to Mario being a Sega kid growing up and I'd already played Ocarina before I got Mario 64 so it didn't have that three dimensional wow factor. Croc on the other hand was just soooooooo cuteeeeeeeeeeee!!!
@Dohv I hope so!
Ugh...Somehow i hate Activision at this point, they should sell Crash to Sony or directly to ND so they can make good use of it! Not to say about the good ol' Spyro...
@kyleforrester87 Oh yes, Croc! i hope the franchise comes back!...Someday, somehow.. I loved Croc games on the Ps1.
@Carl-G Sony never owned crash, universal did at first, then Sierra, and eventually Activision
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