Crash Bandicoot 5 Would've Had Spyro As Playable Character

The gaming world was recently hit with disappointing news about the cancellation of Crash Bandicoot 5, a project that was in the works at Toys for Bob, the studio behind the revival of the Crash Bandicoot series. According to a detailed report by gaming historian Liam Robertson from DidYouKnowGaming, the decision to shelve Crash Bandicoot 5 was influenced by Activision's strategic shift towards live-service multiplayer games. This move comes in the wake of what Activision perceived as the underwhelming performance of Crash Bandicoot 4: It's About Time.

Toys for Bob had already started conceptualizing Crash Bandicoot 5 as a single-player 3D platformer and a direct sequel to Crash Bandicoot 4. The game was set to take place in a school for villainous children and would have featured returning antagonists from the series. Excitingly, concept art revealed that Spyro, another beloved character revived by Toys for Bob, was planned to be a playable character alongside Crash, battling an interdimensional threat that endangered both their worlds.

The first whispers of the cancellation came from Nicholas Kole, a former concept artist at Toys for Bob, who hinted at the news on social media. Robertson's report confirms that Activision's pivot to live-service games played a significant role in the decision to halt Crash Bandicoot 5's development.

It's not just Crash Bandicoot feeling the impact of Activision's new direction. Another report by Robertson highlights that a pitch for Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3+4, a sequel to the successful Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 1+2 remake, was also rejected. Vicarious Visions, the studio behind the remakes, was redirected to focus on Activision's mainline franchises like Call of Duty and Diablo.

Tony Hawk himself shed light on the situation, revealing that plans for remakes of Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3 and 4 were in place until Vicarious Visions was fully absorbed by Activision. Hawk explained, "That was the plan, even up until the release date of 1 and 2. We were doing 3 and 4, and then Vicarious got kind of absorbed, and then they were looking for other developers, and then it was over."

Hawk further noted that Activision tried to find another studio to take on the project but ultimately didn't trust anyone as much as they did Vicarious Visions. "The truth of it is [Activision] were trying to find somebody to do 3 and 4, but they just didn’t really trust anyone the way they did Vicarious. So they took other pitches from other studios, like, ‘What would you do with the [Tony Hawk Pro Skater] title?’ And they didn’t like anything they heard, and then that was it."