Sony Reportedly Plans to Revive Its PlayStation Classics, Starting With Ape Escape

Sony may be preparing to dust off some of the PlayStation era's most recognizable franchises. According to a new report, the company wants to revive a selection of its older classics, and it plans to hand much of the work to smaller outside studios rather than building everything in-house.

The first project in that effort is reportedly a new Ape Escape, the monkey-catching series that was a fixture of the original PlayStation and PS2 years. The game is said to be in the hands of the developers behind Sonic Mania, the 2017 retro-style Sega platformer that won over critics and fans by modernizing a classic formula without losing its character. That studio's track record with nostalgic 2D design makes it a plausible fit for a series that has been quiet for a long time.

Nothing has been officially confirmed. Sony has not announced the project, and the details in the report, including which other franchises are on the list, remain unclear. Still, the approach is worth watching. Partnering with independent teams is a lower-risk way to test whether older brands still have an audience, and it lets a platform holder bring back series without tying up its biggest first-party studios for years.

If the report holds up, Ape Escape would be one of the more interesting comebacks to come out of PlayStation's back catalog. The series has been dormant for many years, and a new entry would give fans of the franchise something they have been waiting for, while showing whether Sony's older properties still have room to grow.