Sony looks to continue using nostalgia as a factor in consumers purchasing a Playstation 4.

Ever since E3 2015, when Sony announced a return to Final Fantasy 7 and the much desired end to the Shenmue trilogy, gamers have been clamoring for their favorite game series of yesteryear to be the next surprise announcement. The reality is Sony won E3 last year, and possibly the entire generation, on the promise of two games that hadn’t even begun development. Nothing short of an exclusive Half-Life 3 announcement(or any other Valve game ending with a 3) could possibly come close to Sonys megaton announcements in 2015.

Looking back it appears the groundwork for this trip down memory lane started way back in 2013 when a screenshot appeared online featuring a very cryptic tease found in a commercial for the Playstation 4. In the image, a silhouette of Crash Bandicoot appeared underneath an arrow pointing towards an orange diamond, which is incredibly similar to the original logo for Sony Computer Entertainment(see image below). Skip ahead to E3 2015 with the Final Fantasy 7 remake, Shenmue 3, and also the long awaited The Last Guardian and this trip down memory lane begins to hit its stride. One more short leap forward to the Playstation Experience in December where President and CEO of Sony Computer Entertainment America Shawn Layden hits the stage wearing a Crash Bandicoot t-shirt, followed by a post on the Playstation Middle East Twitter account which loosely translates to “Most wanted person… Where are you Crash?” Which brings us to today.

In a brief interview with Pixel Dan on his youtube channel, Randy Falk of NECA Toys discusses their partnership with Sony on some of their iconic game characters such as Nathan Drake from Uncharted, Sackboy from Little Big Planet, and Kratos from the God of War series. He follows this up by saying “looking at some of their other titles, I see they’re bringing Crash Bandicoot back, which is really cool.” While this is by no means a confirmation that Sony intends to bring back the Crash Bandicoot franchise, nor even that it would be exclusive to the Playstation console. It is possible evidence that the time might be right for one of the most beloved Sony mascots to make a return to game consoles in the very near future.

For its part, Naughty Dog commented in July 2014 that they were open to the idea of making a new Crash Bandicoot game. In an interview with IGN, community strategist Arne Meyer said “It’s never off the table, it’s not too much time passing, but it’s the same issues we explored with the Jak game. Is it something that makes sense to us now? I mean, we still have people that worked on the Crash games in the studio. We never forget our past and it’d be great for nostalgic reasons. It’d be the same reason as why there isn’t a Jak 4: I don’t know if it’s playing to our strengths right now.”

For now, consider this to be pure speculation with a high likely hood of coming true. Even if Sony hasn’t been working on bringing the franchise back, they have shown that they are listening to fans, and willing to give them the games they desire. For many, the Playstation 4 will be as much a trip down memory lane as it is a look into what’s ahead for the future of gaming.

Do you think this is a sign that Crash is coming back? Are there other games you hope to see revived in the near future? Share your thoughts with us in the comments below.