Today, after multiple leaks, Activision revealed Crash Bandicoot 4: It’s About Time, a brand-new installment in the storied franchise and the first additive release in the series since 2010. In addition to releasing the game’s first-ever trailer, Activision has also revealed a release date for the game. Barring any unexpected delay, Crash Bandicoot 4: It’s About Time will release worldwide on October 2nd for the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One.
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The announcement follows leaks and rumors of a new Crash Bandicoot game that date back to last year if not further. A new entry in the series was obviously in development, but it was unclear when it would be revealed — until last night when a boatload of Crash Bandicoot merch leaked, pointing towards an imminent game reveal.
Crash Bandicoot, if you’re somehow not familiar, is a platforming franchise, and was once the mascot of early PlayStation gaming. Created by Andy Gavin and Jason Rubin during their time at Naughty Dog — the studio who would go on to create games like Jax and Daxter, Uncharted, and The Last of Us — it was a big hit during an era dominated by mascot platformers. The first game, which released in 1996 simply as Crash Bandicoot, was a PlayStation exclusive, however, the series has since become multi-platform, and has gone through various developers as well. That said, after a long dormancy, the series is returning, which shouldn’t come as a surprise. After all, the Crash Bandicoot N. Sane Trilogy, which remade the first three games in the series, sold gangbusters when it was released in 2017. Meanwhile, the remake of Crash Team Racing also sold quite well when it hit in 2019, showing Activision that there’s plenty of demand for more Crash.
Even before the remakes though, there was a huge demand for more Crash Bandicoot, not just from fans, but from developers on the original series. For example, the creators of the series made it publicly known back in 2013 they were down to see the series return.
“Crash needs a total reboot,” Gavin said at the time while speaking to the PlayStation Official Magazine. “There’s an opportunity to reset the history, and go back to his creation story and the original conflict with Cortex. In that context, you could reprise classic Crash 1 and 2′s settings and villains. It would make sense to use a more modern, free-roaming style. I would concentrate on Looney Tunes-esque animation and really addictive action. That’s what we did with the original Crash, and there’s no reason it couldn’t be done today. Given the current Crash games, people forget that he was once cool. Our Crash had a certain whimsical edge to him. Sure, it was goofy – but it wasn’t dumb.”
Meanwhile, in the following years, PlayStation higher-ups teased fans with subtle hints and openly expressing their admiration for the series. All of this hype built up and finally exploded when the aforementioned Crash Bandicoot N. Sane Trilogy was announced in 2016 on PlayStation’s E3 stage. And once Activision saw the massive sales N. Sane Trilogy did, I’m sure it scrambled to greenlight a new game in the series, which brings us to today.
