I recently finished Ratchet and Clank Rift Apart. I loved it so much that I got the Platinum trophy which I don’t usually do. It is a very strong contender for 2021 Game of the Year. It’s as close to playable Pixar as any game has ever gotten. It’s as immaculately design and joyously fun as the very best Nintendo games. But while I was playing, there was something eating away at the back of my mind. Why can’t we get a Sly Cooper like this?
PlayStation has a large library of exclusive IPs. God of War, Ghost of Tsushima, Last of Us, Uncharted, Horizon Zero Dawn, Ratchet and Clank. One of those things is not like the others. With the exception of Ratchet and Clank, all of Sony’s major IPs are rated T or M. Yes they have Sackboy: A Big Adventure but they don’t treat it the same way the do the others. The fact is, they have a ton of E rated properties that they simply aren’t doing anything with. Sly Cooper, Ape Escape, Parappa the Rapper, Tomba!, etc. They are sitting on a library of family friendly franchises that could rival that of Nintendo and they are collecting dust.
Sony has some of the most talented developers on the planet under it’s banner, there’s no reason to believe they can’t find someone to make a Sly Cooper game that’s close to the quality of Rift Apart. There’s no reason why we can’t get a terrific new Ape Escape or Parappa the Rapper. Nintendo is the king of these kinds of family friendly games of amazing quality but they frequently rely on the same few franchises. Mario, Kirby, Zelda. Sony can easily produce just as many if not more with the franchises it owns.
Sony can have Ratchet & Clank, Sly Cooper, Ape Escape, Jak & Daxter, Sackboy and have five different platformers that all have unique gameplay from one another. That’s not all though, because they can go deeper into their vault to get even more variety. There is no other game like Parappa the Rapper, they can bring back Tomba! from the PS1 to have a quality 2D platformer. If Nintendo isn’t gonna make a new F-Zero, Sony can make a new WipeOut. If Nintendo won’t make a new 1080 Snowboarding then Sony can bring back Cool Boarders. No Wave Race, Sony can make a new Jet Moto.
Under the right developer, all of these franchises and more could make a gloriously triumphant comeback. There’s certainly an audience for them, after Rift Apart came out and players found the cameos from Sly Cooper and Jak, Twitter was filled with gamers asking for new entries in those series. Even before Rift Apart, I frequently saw posts asking for a new Sly or a new Ape Escape. Gamers who grew up with these games want a new entry and Sony is leaving money of the table by not making them. It wouldn’t just be older gamers buying them for nostalgia, these series are all ripe for new players to be introduced to and become fans.
After Ratchet and Clank Rift Apart, there isn’t really any other family friendly game on the horizon. Yes Kena Bridge of Spirits comes out in August but that’s not an exclusive as it will also be on PC. I refuse to believe that Insomniac is the only developer Sony can get to make games like this. They have an incredible roster of studios that could work on a new entry in any of these franchises. I’m sure there’s also dozens of talented third party studios that would love to make one of these games for Sony if they were approached. PlayStation is currently the king of the mature cinematic action game, but they are sitting on a gold mine that could make them the king of family friendly games and they’re choosing to not collect.
Rongo 