Summary
- Activision's decision to cancel Crash Bandicoot 5 was due to a focus on live-service titles over single-player games.
- Crash 4's sales were considered underwhelming, even though it crossed five million units.
- The canceled Crash 5 would have included a crossover with Spyro the Dragon, featuring returning villains and a multiversal adventure.
A new report has claimed that Toys For Bob's Crash Bandicoot 5 was canceled due to Activision wanting the developer to focus on live-service titles. Earlier this year, Crash Bandicoot fans had some disheartening news when a former employee who worked on Crash Bandicoot 4: It's About Time revealed that a Crash 5 was at some point in development, but was canceled behind the scenes.
The Crash Bandicoot franchise has been through a lot of troubles in the past two decades. After a tumultuous period of mixed-quality games in the mid-2000s and early 2010s, the Crash Bandicoot remake trilogy and Crash 4 were seen as a return to form. Crash 4 in particular was seen as a great continuation of the classic platforming franchise, being praised for its story and revitalization of the series' gameplay. Following this release, the franchise struggled to gain any momentum again after the release of Crash Team Rumble. Toys For Bob later split from Activision in February 2024, which was later followed up by the reveal of Crash 5 being canceled by Activision. The reason behind why Crash 5 was recently discussed in a new report.
Spyro, Crash Bandicoot Dev Reaches Agreement With Xbox for Its New Game
Toys For Bob, the studio behind Spyro and Crash Bandicoot's modern revivals, reaches an agreement with Xbox to fund its new game.
In a new video by DidYouKnowGaming and Liam Robertson, he reported what had happened behind the scenes at Toys For Bob and why Crash Bandicoot 5 was canceled. According to Robertson, the development of Crash 5 was canceled early in development due to what was considered "underwhelming sales" for Crash Bandicoot 4: It's About Time. Former Toys for Bob designer Tony Schadt revealed that Crash 4's sales were a bit better than expected, crossing five million units, and that it was financially successful. However, these figures didn't please Activision enough, which resulted in Crash 5 being canceled. Following this, Toys For Bob was thrown to work on supporting its live service titles, like Overwatch 2 and Call of Duty: Warzone. The Crash Team Rumble project was then put forward as a live service title reusing assets from Crash 4.
Crash 5's Canceled Concepts
The concept behind the canceled Crash 5 was also shared in this video, with the game set to be a direct sequel to Crash 4. Concept art and story drafts reveal that the sequel was going to revisit the Academy of Evil from Crash Twinsanity as its main setting, and even would have featured a number of returning villains like N. Bryo. Another element included in this concept was Crash visiting the minds of these villains, like Dr. Cortex, Pinstripe, and Tiny Tiger.
The most ambitious element of this canceled game was the potential of Crash Bandicoot crossing over with Spyro the Dragon, thanks to the machinations of Uka Uka. This early element then became the backbone behind Crash 5, which included various possibilities of the two being playable at the same time, or separately in a multiversal adventure. Unfortunately, these only existed as concept art before it was canceled, with Toys For Bob doing support work for Call of Duty and developing the Crash Team Rumble spin-off.
The Crash Bandicoot franchise began in 1996 with the intention of being Sony's answer to Nintendo's Mario and Sega's Sonic. The series kicked off with three iconic platform games from Naughty Dog, along with one of the best kart racing games of all time, Crash Team Racing.
The series' quality has been inconsistent since Naughty Dog left, though it seems to have found its feet again in recent years.