Update:

An Activision spokesperson tells IGN the company still owns Crash Bandicoot

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“Activision owns Crash Bandicoot and we continue to explore ways in which we could bring the beloved series back to life.”

Via Reddit.

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Famed studio Naughty Dog -- the developer behind Uncharted and The Last of Us -- created Crash Bandicoot back in 1996. Naughty Dog worked on four Crash games, all released on the original PlayStation, before moving on to PlayStation 2’s Jak & Daxter. The franchise was owned not by Sony, but by Universal, until it was sold off to Activision in the early 2000’s. The last game in the series, Crash: Mind Over Mutant, was released on PS2, PSP, Xbox 360, Wii, and Nintendo DS in 2008.However, Reddit editor cocobandicoot has put together a post chronicling the last few years for Crash Bandicoot, culminating in some mighty compelling information that may indicate that Sony’s original mascot may be returning to the PlayStation fold.The most interesting evidence comes by way of the picture, seen above, from Sony’s recent launch commercial for PlayStation 4 . On the white, circular sign with a red outline, a silhouette of what appears to be Crash Bandicoot is seen, with an arrow pointing towards a gold diamond, which just so happens to be the logo of Sony Computer Entertainment, the PlayStation brand’s home company.Even more interesting is that Activision’s Crash Bandicoot website has been taken down (an archived version can be found here). Any references to Crash Bandicoot seem to have been removed from Activision's web properties.We’ve reached out to Sony for comment and clarification, and we’ll update if and when we hear back. In the meantime, let’s slot this story as a rumor, albeit an interesting one.While we wait for more information, why not catch up on IGN’s The History of Naughty Dog to learn more about what the studio went through while creating Crash Bandicoot?

Colin Moriarty is IGN’s Senior Editor. You can follow him on Twitter.