There is a long list of video game licenses that are technically first-party Xbox properties after Microsoft has acquired studio after studio over the last few years. Bandicoot.
For those who grew up in the 90’s, Crash and PlayStation were almost synonymous. Not only were the first few Crash games amazing tech demos of what Sony’s first console could do, but Crash itself was quite vocally hyped. The mascot-platformer has become the literal mascot of the PS1, and millions of people may have heard about Sony’s new console from a man in a fur suit yelling through a megaphone in a TV commercial.
The first three Crash games were published by Sony, but the rights to Bandicoot itself belonged to Universal Interactive, the video game publishing arm of Universal Studios. In 2001, Sony acquired Naughty Dog, the studio that created Crash, and Universal Interactive merged with another company to become Vivendi Universal Interactive Publishing.
After another merger in 2008, Vivendi became part of Activision Blizzard, but after many mediocre games and the decline in popularity of 3D platformers, Crash’s custody was on the top of most people’s minds. It wasn’t on the front lines.
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Then, at the 2015 PlayStation Experience, General Manager Sean Layden took to the stage wearing a Crash t-shirt and a generation of PlayStation fans became N-SANE. Was the prodigal bandicoot going home?2016 turned out to be the year of the bandicoot and on the victory lap of his 20th anniversary of the crash he was all over the place. He first appeared in a Naughty Dog game this century (although it was in an Uncharted game…) and was then the guest of honor in Skylanders: The Imaginator. Look, the spin-off of Spyro out of control.
And finally, Activision Blizzard opened the nostalgia floodgates. A complete modern remake of his original trilogy and Crash Team Racing paved the way for the long-awaited sequel It’s About Time. Crash Bandicoot and PlayStation seemed to rekindle the special relationship they had in the ’90s… I mean, it was an open relationship, so Crash could show up on other platforms, but still The spark is back.
At least that’s how it felt until Microsoft sold off Activision Blizzard, Bandicoot, and Dragon. Sony may own Naughty Dog and Insomniac, the studios that created some of the PlayStation’s earliest and most famous characters, but those characters themselves have officially packed their bags and gone from the original worst. I moved in with my enemy.
who knows? The next time we see Crash, he’ll be in the parking lot of his PlayStation HQ, in front of his truck full of Series Xs, yelling into a megaphone about the awesomeness of Xbox Game Pass. After all, a strange thing happened. There was a time when the idea of playing a Sega game on a Nintendo console was virtually blasphemous, but now it’s not only commonplace, but there were a whole six games about Mario and Sonic at the Olympics. .
