PlayStation May Be Reviving Controversial PS2 Series on PS5

Back in August of last year, we relayed word that a controversial PS2 series may be revived on PS5. Fast-forward, and this looks even more likely. Last year, former Sony London developer Mike Rouse revealed he heard Sony was working on something for The Getaway, a series born on the PS2 and a series that has been dormant for many years. Fast-forward and Sony has filed a trademark for "Soho Engine." How is this related to The Getaway? Well, the studio behind the series was known as Team Soho.

The trademark itself isn't new, it was actually filed last year, but it's resurfaced online and has PlayStation fans itching with speculation. The surface-level implication is that this, at the very least, is related to SIE London Studio, as this team was created out of the ashes of Team Soho. The other implication is that this is related to The Getaway, but even if it is, the series may not be reborn as PlayStation fans remember it.

Speaking hypothetically, say if SIE Londo Studio is working on The Getaway, it's probably for PlayStation VR, as that's what the studio is primarily known for. In fact, it's really the only VR-dedicated team Sony has. Right now, we know the team is working on a new PS5 game. This much has been confirmed. What hasn't been confirmed is whether or not it's for PlayStation VR 2 and of course whether or not it's related to The Getaway.

The Getaway debuted back in 2002, as an action-adventure game on the PS2. Developed by Team Soho and published by Sony, the game -- which was inspired by British gangland films and drew comparisons to GTA -- didn't light the world on fire critically, but it did sell well. In the modern day, Sony usually wants both of these boxes checked before it greenlights a sequel, but back then, it wasn't so caught up on Metacritic scores. So, a sequel was greenlit.

In 2004, The Getaway: Black Monday released -- also via the PS2 -- selling half the number of copies and performing even worse with critics. Ever since then, the series has been on ice.

At the time of their release, both games stirred up a bit of controversy and were barred from release in certain regions of the world. Meanwhile, the first game had to remove content post-launch after British Telecommunications took issue with its logo being used in the violent game.

All of that, take all of the speculation above with a grain of salt. At the moment of publishing, Sony has not commented on any of it or the trademark that has created. We don't expect this to change, but if it does, we will update the story accordingly.