Key Takeaways
- A trusted ResetEra leaker claims Sony is opening its dormant IPs to third-party studio pitches, with Ape Escape, Killzone, and Sly Cooper specifically named as franchises being considered for revival.
- The leaker — who previously correctly revealed God of War: Sons of Sparta before its announcement — says the first wave of revivals is expected around the PS6 launch window.
- Sony’s IP Preservation project logo was recently revealed, featuring characters from Sly Cooper, Jak and Daxter, Killzone, Ape Escape, and PaRappa the Rapper — all long-dormant franchises.
- A new studio, Sneaky Devil Studios, has been connected to a potential Sly Cooper revival, with its Chief Creative Officer explicitly referencing the franchise in a public statement.
- Guerrilla Games is reportedly supervising a Killzone project being developed externally, possibly at People Can Fly.
- All three of the original franchise developers have since moved on — Sucker Punch to Ghost of Tsushima and Ghost of Yotei, Japan Studio dissolved into Team Asobi, and Guerrilla deep into the Horizon series.
PlayStation’s history is littered with beloved franchises that quietly disappeared during the PS3-to-PS4 transition and never came back. Sly Cooper. Ape Escape. Killzone. Jak and Daxter. PaRappa the Rapper. These were the mascots and marquee series of an entire generation of PlayStation players, and for over a decade they’ve sat untouched while their original studios moved on to other things. That might finally be changing — and the timing lines up with something significant on Sony’s horizon.
What the Leaker Actually Claimed
The report comes from ResetEra user thisiserfan, the same leaker who accurately revealed the existence of God of War: Sons of Sparta well before Sony announced it publicly. According to their post, Sony Interactive Entertainment has changed its approach to managing its IP library and is now actively accepting game pitches from third-party studios for projects based on classic franchises.
The franchises specifically named in the leak are Sly Cooper, Ape Escape, and Killzone. Rather than waiting for the original developers — all of whom have moved on to other projects — to circle back, Sony is reportedly open to licensing the IPs to new teams and publishing the results. The leaker added that they’re “under the impression we will see the first wave of this initiative around the PS6 launch window,” which gives the rumoured revival campaign a real strategic shape: these would be system-sellers for a new console generation, the same way the PS2’s iconic platformers helped define that hardware’s identity.
The leak doesn’t stand alone. Insider NateTheHate — who has a strong track record on PlayStation information — has independently hinted at an Ape Escape revival on multiple occasions and recently doubled down on those claims, specifying that the new game would be developed at a studio other than Team Asobi, the natural candidate given that Japan Studio (Ape Escape’s original developer) was merged into Team Asobi in 2021. Separately, a Killzone remaster or remake was reported earlier in September 2026, with Guerrilla Games — the series’ original creator — said to be supervising the project externally, potentially in partnership with People Can Fly.
The PlayStation IP Preservation Project — A Sign Sony Is Serious
Adding weight to the rumours is something more tangible. PlayStation’s senior build engineer Garrett Fredley recently shared a logo for the company’s internal IP Preservation project, and the design was a collage of dormant franchise characters: Sly Cooper, Jak and Daxter, Killzone, Ape Escape, and PaRappa the Rapper all featured prominently. An IP Preservation logo that prominently centres these specific franchises doesn’t read like a box-ticking archival exercise — it reads like preparation for something.
Team Asobi’s Astro Bot winning Game of the Year in 2024 is relevant context here too. The game was packed with references to PlayStation’s classic catalogue, including direct nods to Sly Cooper, Ape Escape, and PaRappa the Rapper, and the overwhelming fan response to those cameos clearly demonstrated there’s appetite for these franchises to return properly. That kind of audience signal doesn’t go unnoticed at a publisher level.
The Franchises and How Long They’ve Been Gone
Ape Escape is the longest-dormant of the three in terms of mainline entries. Ape Escape 3, the last numbered game in the series, launched on PS2 in 2005 — over two decades ago. The most recent release was PlayStation Move Ape Escape in 2010, a PS3 tech demo spin-off built around the motion controller that most fans don’t count as a proper entry. The franchise’s original developer, Japan Studio, was dissolved by Sony in 2021 and merged into Team Asobi.
Killzone last released with Killzone Shadow Fall, which launched as a PS4 system seller in 2013. The sci-fi shooter series was a PS2 and PS3 mainstay — Sony’s answer to Halo — and its absence from the PS4 and PS5 era has been felt by fans of first-person military shooters. Guerrilla Games, its creator, has spent the years since building the Horizon series into one of PlayStation’s biggest franchises, with Horizon Zero Dawn and Horizon Forbidden West both receiving Game of the Year nominations.
Sly Cooper also last appeared in 2013 with Sly Cooper: Thieves in Time, a PS3 entry developed by Sanzaru Games rather than the original Sucker Punch Productions. The thieving raccoon’s cartoon stealth-platformer style has aged better than almost anything else from its era visually, and it’s arguably the franchise fans have been most vocal about wanting back. Sucker Punch, meanwhile, has fully pivoted to Ghost of Tsushima and its upcoming sequel Ghost of Yotei.
Interestingly, a new studio called Sneaky Devil Studios emerged earlier in 2026 with personnel whose background aligns with the Sly franchise, and its Chief Creative Officer explicitly referenced “high-caliber action-adventure classics like Sly Cooper” in a public statement around the studio’s formation. While nothing has been officially confirmed, the studio’s name, its team’s history, and those public comments have pointed speculation in one clear direction.
What This Means for the PS6 Era
The framing of “first wave around the PS6 launch window” is the most strategically interesting part of the leak. Sony has used console launches to establish identity before — the original PlayStation launched with Crash Bandicoot’s era incoming, the PS2 with Jak and Daxter and Sly Cooper helping define what the hardware could do. If the PS6 arrives with reimagined versions of dormant PS2-era franchises alongside it, that’s both a nostalgia play and a statement about PlayStation’s history being an active asset rather than an archive.
It’s also a pragmatic approach to a genuine challenge. Sony’s most talented first-party studios — Sucker Punch, Guerrilla, Naughty Dog, Insomniac — are all committed to existing franchises for the foreseeable future. Bringing in external developers to handle legacy IP means those teams don’t have to split their focus, and it gives newer studios a chance to work with beloved brands that carry built-in audiences. Astro Bot demonstrated what can happen when someone cares about PlayStation’s history. A wave of proper franchise revivals handled with that same care could define an entire console generation.
What’s Coming Before Any of This
While the rumoured revivals are still unconfirmed, PlayStation’s confirmed near-future lineup is already stacked. God of War Laufey launches February 16, 2027 — the first God of War game to feature Kratos’ late wife Faye (Laufey) as the protagonist rather than Kratos himself, developed by Sony Santa Monica for PS5. Until Dawn 2 is also set to arrive in February 2027, returning the survival horror series with a brand-new cast more than a decade after the original.
For now, the revival rumours remain unconfirmed. But the convergence of independent leaks, a visible IP Preservation project, the Astro Bot effect, and a PS6 launch window that would benefit from exactly this kind of nostalgic punch makes the picture feel more complete than any single rumour usually does. Whether Sly Cooper actually gets the sequel he deserves or Ape Escape returns with its nets and gadgets intact will take an official announcement to confirm — but for the first time in years, the momentum genuinely feels like it’s pointing in the right direction.
If you’re following Sony’s broader gaming landscape this week, our breakdown of the PlatinumGames Bayonetta revival hints covers another beloved franchise whose future is becoming clearer. And if the conversation around physical game preservation matters to you, our piece on why FF7 Revelation’s disc still requires a download is a timely read.
