Speculation pertaining to PlayStation Studios’ future output continues to mount. Just this week, rumors swirled regarding two new titles within the pipeline. Those being a Wipeout revival and a new PS5 exclusive FromSoftware game. Known leaker Shpeshal_Nick over on Reddit dropped those nuggets of information earlier in the week. But, he didn’t stop there. Shpeshal_Nick has also corroborated a Reddit post detailing the possible return of a certain masked raccoon.
For whatever it’s worth to anyone, I’ve heard something similar. I didn’t hear Sucker Punch were doing it, I just heard “someone” was making Sly 5.
I guess Sucker Punch would make the most sense. But I keep being told not them.
Sucker Punch not developing this, while disappointing makes complete sense. As with Naughty Dog, their interests have evolved and changed. From Sly to InFamous to Ghost of Tsushima. From Crash to Jak to Uncharted and now The Last of Us, both teams have possessed the freedom to create what they want without outside influence. While they clearly still love the franchise they fostered, they clearly want to do something else. So, it is entirely possible this will be an XDEV project like Sackboy was.
Obviously, we have to take this leak with a grain of salt but being the massive Sly Cooper fan that I am, I can’t help but let myself get a little excited. I mean, I’m probably one of the few who believe Sly 2: Band of Thieves is still Sucker Punch’s best game.
Sly Cooper Making the Jump to PS5
During the PS2 era, Sony had 3 major mascots gracing their platform. Insomniac’s Ratchet & Clank, Naughty Dog’s Jak & Daxter, and Sucker Punch’s Sly Cooper. While Ratchet has managed to stand the test of time, the others have fallen by the wayside. Many reasons attest to this. For example, Naughty Dog and Sucker Punch wanted to move on, sales were softer when compared to Ratchet and both Sly and Jak concluded their stories quite definitively in Jak X and Sly 3.
There is also the matter of the most recent releases for the respective series, proving less than stellar. Jak & Daxter and The Lost Frontier and Sly Cooper Thieves in Time, both developed by different teams, failed to deliver the same quality as their predecessors. Take all of this into account, and it is no wonder Sony put a nail in their respective coffins.
After the success of Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart and Astro Bot, it is clear fans still hold platformers of the PS2 era close to their hearts. Hopefully, this is enough reason for Sony to give Sly Cooper on PS5 another chance.
