PlayStation Fans Hyped For Leaked Return Of Iconic Franchise

PlayStation has had its fair share of iconic video game characters over the years. While they may not have a single mascot as strong as Nintendo’s Mario, Sony is still likely a runner-up in terms of recognizable characters like Kratos, Ratchet and Clank, and Nathan Drake. Older players also likely associate characters like Crash Bandicoot and Spyro the Dragon with PlayStation. Now, according to some interesting rumors, it looks like one of Sony’s long-absent mascots may be making an unexpected return.

Sly Cooper is equal parts master thief and adorable raccoon man. He starred in four mainline titles between 2002 and 2013 which offered a mixture of platforming, stealth, and action. Although not the most prolific character, Sly was deemed a recognizable enough Sony mascot to appear on the cover of PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale, the company’s answer to Nintendo’s Super Smash Bros. franchise. A Reddit post by user BLAZERLIKESSODA detailed rumors about Sly’s potential return, including the founding of Sneaky Devil Studios, a company including Sly Cooper veterans named in reference to the third game, and fans are very excited.

BLAZERLIKESSODA’s post is the second most popular post on the Sly Cooper subreddit at the time of writing, clearly showing strong interest from fans of the series. User TAJack1 was so enthusiastic, I had to edit some of their language from their post, which reads, “If Sony end this generation by reviving a tonne of old IPs and carry them into the PS6 era, the future is [expletive] BRIGHT for them.”

Another user, RangerDub, echoes these sentiments, saying, “I would love a fourth Sly Cooper game. The Sly Cooper franchise was what got me into gaming in the first place.” For players who grew up with Sony consoles, it’s easy to see how Sly would’ve been a formative game character for them. With massive PlayStation hits like Final Fantasy 7 and Devil May Cry skewing towards an older crowd, characters like Sly Cooper and Spyro appealed perfectly to younger players.

Of course, not all Sly Cooper fans are equally optimistic about the potential return of the series. With so long between installments, and this not being the first time a return has been rumored, some players are more cautious. One of the most popular threads on the post is user Background-Distance2 posting a gif of Hawkeye from Avengers: Endgame saying “Don’t give me hope,” with many other users replying with the exact same gif.

Other players express their reservations about the handling of the fourth game in the series, Sly Cooper: Thieves in Time. Plenty of players on the thread echo the sentiment that they didn’t appreciate how that game handled its writing and characters, with user Koala_Guru going so far as to say “Not a fan of the writing of Sly 4. Truly I’d rather have the series remain dormant than leave its future entirely in their hands.” “Their” referring to those who worked on Sly 4 and are now part of Sneaky Devil Studios.

Although not everyone is fully onboard, I would be happy to see the return of the Sly Cooper series after all this time. It would be interesting to see what innovations could be made to the series, given the 13 years since the last release. Of course, PlayStation could just go the route of Crash Bandicoot and give us remasters, but I’ll be crossing my fingers for a new release.

Founded

October 3, 1994

Owner

Sony Interactive Entertainment

Known For

Uncharted, God of War, Horizon, The Last of Us,