Sony may be preparing to revive the Ape Escape franchise, according to comments from industry insider NateTheHate. The insider has suggested that Sony is working to bring back dormant franchises and indicated that the potential Ape Escape project would not be developed by Team Asobi.
Speculation surrounding a possible Ape Escape return surfaced after users pointed to hints from multiple sources suggesting that the PlayStation franchise could be making a comeback. Responding to a comment asking whether he knew something about the reports, NateTheHate said, “As I said a while ago, Sony is looking to bring back some dormant franchises.”
When asked specifically whether Team Asobi would be involved, the insider replied, “Not Asobi.” This would rule out the studio behind Astro Bot as the developer of the reported project, at least according to the information currently available to NateTheHate.
NateTheHate was also asked whether Bandai Namco was involved. He responded, “Bamco is not involved, to my knowledge. But I’d have to check further to be 100% certain, as it has been a while since I last checked in on the project.”
Ape Escape is one of PlayStation’s older first-party franchises, debuting on the original PlayStation in 1999. The series is built around platforming and gadget-based gameplay, with players tasked with capturing monkeys that have been scattered across different environments.
The franchise has been dormant for many years, with its last mainline entry, Ape Escape 3, released in 2005. Team Asobi’s exclusion is particularly notable given the studio’s connection to PlayStation’s platforming heritage and its work on Astro Bot, although there is currently no official indication of which Sony team or external developer could be behind the reported project.
