In his post, Howe said that he was in charge of creating a shot-for-shot recreation of one of the game’s early cutscenes as part of the pitch to show Sony what it would look like. He has also made it clear that the cutscene’s recreation was not commissioned by Sony, and the PlayStation maker had no involvement in the proposal. Further in the comments for his post, Howe also credits Sanzaru Games senior character artist Tyler Bronis for his work on the animated short.

“A long while back, a team was assembled to pitch a remaster of Jak & Daxter. I was asked to animate an IGC shot-for-shot, to show what this updated version would look like,” wrote Howe. “To be abundantly clear: this was NOT commissioned by Sony, nor did they have any involvement in our proposal — this was essentially a fan pitch to try and gain their permission.”

The cutscene’s recreation is quite an impressive one, seemingly making use of modern technologies to render things like the fur on Daxter’s body, and more modern implementations of things like particle effects, which were much harder to render on the original’s PS2 hardware.

In his own post about the project, Bronis revealed that the pitch was worked on back in 2019. His own involvement at the time revolved around remaking Jak’s model, along with environment art and lighting, and the camera work and editing.

The video has seen a positive response, with former Naughty Dog writer and narrative designer Josh Scherr commenting about how well it was pulled off. Scherr had worked on the Jak and Daxter games, and was an animator on this scene in particular.

“This is wild – I was the animator on the original scene way back in 2001,” wrote Scherr. “Y’all did a great job! On the original game each cinematics animator had to churn out 30 seconds of animation per week, so it’s nice to see it looking more polished.”

Currently, the Jak and Daxter series is essentially missing. The last time we got any official word on the franchise was back in 2021, with Naughty Dog co-president Evan Wells confirming that a new Jak and Daxter game was not in the works. In a discussion with Insomniac’s Ted Price, Wells was asked whether Naughty Dog still gets requests for a new entry in the franchise.

“We do, in fact,” he replied. “We’ve had a couple of Twitter campaigns where people have been tweeting us every single day [saying] ‘I want a new Jak and Daxter, I want a new Jak and Daxter’, and they aren’t just simple 280-character tweets, they have Photoshopped memes and everything they’re including on a daily basis, and the effort has got to be significant.”

“And I hate to break it to them, [but] we do not have Jak and Daxter here in development right now.”

While most of the video focuses on the classic games under Naughty Dog’s hat, the developers also spoke about the future of the studio. That includes Naughty Dog co-founder Jason Rubin reiterating the focus on storytelling.

“I hope the future holds more of what Naughty Dog has always done: being at the forefront of making entertainment that is of the highest possible quality, telling the stories it wants to tell, with depth and meaning,” said Rubin in the video. Studio manager and head of operations Alison Mori echoed this statement. “I know our studio will continue to create amazing story-driven, character-based games that touch upon the human experience.”

“It’s really about embodying these characters that are very specific, and strong-willed characters, even though they’re flawed, and then making you connect with them and their journey in a way that, hopefully by the time you’re finished with that experience, you view reality a little bit differently,” said studio head Neil Druckmann.

Intergalactic is the next title by Naughty Dog, and will be the first new IP that the studio has worked on since it released The Last of Us all the way back in 2013. While there is no release date for the game as of yet, Druckmann has described it as being the studio’s “most ambitious”, “most expansive”, and “most expensive” game so far.

“We’re making it, we’re playing it. We’re firing on all cylinders,” said Druckmann about the development of Intergalactic back in September. “I’ve said this before, but I really mean it, I’m really feeling it right now: It’s the most ambitious game we’ve ever made. It’s the most expansive game we’ve ever made, maybe the most expensive, by the time we finish it.”

Druckmann also spoke about the potential for a sequel to Intergalactic if the title ends up being successful by noting that Naughty Dog as a studio doesn’t really tend to plan things like that out in advance. “We don’t tend to plan too much in the future, because we find — and this is something I inherited, it’s just the Naughty Dog culture — that we do our best work when it’s something we’re really excited about, really passionate about,” he said.

He also spoke about the studio discussing starting work on The Last of Us Part 3 after the success of Part 2. However, the team ultimately decided to start work on Intergalactic instead because there was passion behind wanting to work on a new sci-fi experience.

Intergalactic is being developed for PS5. Druckmann has also previously confirmed that he was stepping back from his duties on the TV adaptation of The Last of Us to focus on the upcoming game.

“We don’t tend to plan too much in the future, because we find — and this is something I inherited, it’s just the Naughty Dog culture — that we do our best work when it’s something we’re really excited about, really passionate about,” said Druckmann.

Following the success of The Last of Us Part 2, he recalls the team debating about “whether we should just go straight into ‘The Last of Us 3,’ and we had a really long period where we looked at ideas for maybe what could be in that game. We looked at — we have ‘Uncharted‘ as an IP, we have ‘Jak and Daxter‘ as an IP. But the team was really excited to do this sci-fi thing that we’ve been talking about for a while, and that’s where our passions lie, so that’s where we’re moving forward.”

If Intergalactic is a success, then Druckmann is sure that players will “see it again,” but that doesn’t mean it will be Naughty Dog’s next game. “Whether that will be our next game right after that, I can’t say, and I leave that door open. Not to be coy for this particular question, we want to see how we feel once we’re done with it and look at the options in front of us, because we have some other ideas that we’d like to explore as well.”

Druckmann previously said he had a “concept” in mind for The Last of Us Part 3, but not the full story. Of course, he would more recently tell Santa Monica Studio’s Cory Barlog that he didn’t have the confidence to plan sequels in advance. Speaking to Variety last March, he revealed that The Last of Us Part 2 could very well be the end of the series, but as his latest statements indicate, there’s no guarantee.

Regardless, it’ll be a while before Intergalactic launches on PS5, so in the meantime, head here for Druckmann’s thoughts on how it’s the studio’s most ambitious and expansive title yet.

Jak and Daxter trilogy

To break away from the linear storytelling in prior triumvirate Crash Bandicoot, Naughty Dog developed a new graphics engine capable of rendering seamlessly connected open environments rife for joyful exploration for their Jak and Daxter trilogy. Ostensibly a third-person action platformer, the series also featured excellent combat and movement mechanics underpinned by the Eco system – a substance that can dramatically enhance player abilities; move sets which became increasingly complex and satisfying as the trilogy progressed.

Deus Ex

It may sound counter-intuitive considering the scope of Mankind Divided and Human Revolution, but Deus Ex has always thrived on the number of choices it gives players. The different play styles, dialogues and approaches would fit well within the context of a tighter narrative and maybe encourage multiple playthroughs. As for what kind of story it would tell, given all the factions, conspiracies and whatnot, and whether it should feature Adam Jensen or a brand new character remains to be seen.

STAR FOX

Star Fox was once one of Nintendo’s most promising franchises- though certainly not on the same level as something like Zelda or Mario, it was consistently received well by critics and audiences, and definitely sold well enough to warrant several sequels and new instalments. As time went on though, it sort of faded into the background. We did get Star Fox Zero for the Wii U in 2016, but that game was a huge disappointment, to say the very least. As such, we’re now at a point where the future looks pretty dim for this beloved series.

Naughty Dog is a fairly important studio for Sony especially with its Uncharted and The Last of Us titles garnering immense critical and commercial success. However, it’s hard to forget some of its more classic franchises like Jak and Daxter, which served as excellent 3D platformers in the PlayStation 2 era.  While the company is rumored to be working on a remake for The Last of Us 1, what are the chances of a new Jak and Daxter in the future?

Naughty Dog co-president Evan Wells recently spoke about this with Insomniac’s Ted Price in the Game Maker’s Notebook series by the Academy of Interactive Arts and Sciences (transcription via VGC). Upon being asked whether the company receives requests for a new Jak and Daxter game, he replied, “We do, in fact. We’ve had a couple of Twitter campaigns where people have been tweeting us every single day [saying] ‘I want a new Jak and Daxter, I want a new Jak and Daxter’, and they aren’t just simple 280-character tweets, they have Photoshopped memes and everything they’re including on a daily basis, and the effort has got to be significant.”

“And I hate to break it to them, [but] we do not have Jak and Daxter here in development right now.” This doesn’t mean that Naughty Dog is down on the franchise though. As Wells notes, “We still love the characters and I see what you guys [at Insomniac] are doing with Ratchet and that makes me wish that we did, and we would have one in development, because there’s still a lot of love for Jak and Daxter in the studio.”

Jak and Daxter: The Precursor Legacy was the first title in the series and launched in December 2001 for the PS2. It was followed by two sequels developed by Naughty Dog along with some spin-offs. High Impact Games would develop another sequel in 2009 for the PS2 and PSP while Jak and Daxter Collection, comprising HD ports of the first three games, would release in 2012 for PS3 and 2013 for PS Vita.

The Jak and Daxter series was a name that kept the idea of “mascot platformers” alive, despite the marked turn in tone that the games took after the first game. But fast forward to 2019, and we have not seen a new game from the franchise since Jak and Daxter: The Lost Frontier on the PSP. There was the Jak and Daxter Collection released for both PS3 and PSVita later. And then on the PS4, the first three games and JakX received a physical re-printing, alongside the games being made available digitally, but those aren’t new games. So since it’s been about a decade, we have to ask, especially with the wildly successful revival of the Crash Bandicoot series – what the hell happened to Jak and Daxter?

“Don’t step into the light, Jak and Daxter! DON’T STEP INTO THE LIGHT!”

The Jak and Daxter series is primarily a 3D platformer series. After Crash Bandicoot and Spyro the Dragon, though both not first party franchises, saw great success debuting on first Playstation, the Playstation 2 saw the introduction of both the Jak and Daxter series, and the Ratchet and Clank series as vibrant, fun, and unique platformers that would diversify the first party output for the Playstation 2. Naughty Dog, which worked on the first three Crash Bandicoot games (and would later go on to work on the The Last of Us and the Uncharted series, if you’re familiar with those,) developed the first three games and Jak X.

The first Jak and Daxter game would release a year after the launch of the Playstation 2. It was a colorful fantasy adventure, wherein a silent protagonist (barring some noises here and there, but no words) and his wise-cracking otter-weasel sidekick, try to prevent their world from being transformed by dark Eco, an evil version of Eco, a type of energy found throughout their world which governs life on their planet. The greater part of the game’s progress involves collecting Precursor Orbs and Power Cells, scattered about throughout the various levels that Jak and Daxter travel through.

The design of the game is such that players progress through world hubs which contain a varying number of levels each. The tone is mostly cartoony and uncomplicated. Given what Crash Bandicoot had “established” on the Playstation the generation prior, it’s fair to say that the first Jak and Daxter game was a worthy successor while creating its own identity as a franchise.

It’s important to establish and talk about the types of worlds traversed in and the tone of the first game, because as anyone who has played the second game will tell you, Jak II was a marked departure from the first title. After the villains of the first game are successfully defeated and their home world is saved, Jak and Daxter are invited by the Sage of Green Eco and his daughter to test a device that opens a portal. What starts out as a hopeful and ambitious experiment ends up separating the two heroes from the Sage and his daughter, and lands them in a strange world – Haven City, one that is far more industrialized than the lush Sandover Village that they are used to. Jak and Daxter are promptly locked up, and Jak is experimented on with Dark Eco, which radically transforms his personality into something much edgier than we previously knew, and also gives him a voice, which he didn’t have in the first game.

The second game introduces a gun with four different types of firearm modules and collectible ammo for each, and a Dark Jak transformation with its own set of combat skills. Haven City, the game’s main hub world, bustles with people and vehicles. However, the world of Haven City is patrolled by guards, who will take notice if the protagonists in any way slight them or attacks a citizen. Despite the departure in gameplay and tone, Jak II was a game that laid a foundation for further expanding the lore and story of the series in a way that although greatly complicated the plot, was still consistent, especially with revelations from later titles.

Jak 3 would not see any radical tone or gameplay changes as with the transition between the first and second title – rather, it was an evolution of the second game. The events of the ending of Jak II see Jak and Daxter cast out of Haven City, and left for dead in The Wasteland, a desert island. While the game starts out initially featuring missions and story progression taking place in The Wasteland and desert city of Spargus in The Wasteland, eventually Jak and Daxter find themselves returning to Haven City to correct the corruption that has overtaken it since the heroes’ exile, though Jak is none too pleased with the idea at first.

Jak 3 builds upon Jak II by introducing more gun modules and the Light Jak transformation. Jak 3 is notable as it answers many questions about the Precusors and Jak himself, and explains the contintuity of the franchise as a whole. It should be noted, however, that Jak 3 was not released in Japan, and that Jak II was the last Jakand Daxter game released until The Lost Frontier.

The end of Jak 3 is the conclusion of the “main trilogy” of the Jak and Daxter games. After Jak 3, Naughty Dog developed Jak X: Combat Racing. As if the similarities between the progression of the Crash Bandicoot and the Jak and Daxter series couldn’t be any more uncanny! With that said, Jak X featured a variety of race event types outside of the standard “Circuit race”, wherein competitors race to place first at the end of a set lap goal for a track.

The game also featured multiplayer racing both offline and online, and unlockable vehicles and characters which are found both in an in-game shop and a main adventure mode, following Jak and Daxter as they progress through the Kras City Grand Championship. It was a fun spinoff title that also celebrated the franchise’s history up to that point.

Shortly following Jak X is the spinoff title Daxter on the PSP. Daxter was meant to build off of the power of the Jak and Daxter brand to help launch the fledgling PSP a year after its release. The PSP Sony’s foray into portable gaming was a serious expression of a vision of games platforms as more general entertainment devices rather than being singularly designed for game-playing; a vision we certainly see as true today in modern gaming consoles. Daxter takes place in a period of time leading up to Jak II, as he has been struggling to rescue Jak after being separated from him.

The game was developed by Ready at Dawn, and was one of two Jak and Daxter games released for the PSP along with Jak and Daxter: The Lost Frontier, which was also released on the PS2. The Lost Frontier was developed by High Impact Games, and is chronologically the last game in the Jak and Daxter series and deals primarily with solving a worldwide Eco shortage along with the rise of a new Eco sage. Released three years after Daxter, it remains the last original Jak and Daxter release.

The ending of the Lost Frontier does leave an opening for a new Jak and Daxter game. That aside, 2012 would see remasters of the first three games released as the Jak and Daxter Collection for the PS3 and Vita. And, the first three games and Jak X would later be released digitally for the PS4, along with a limited physical printing of those games. But what of the future of the series? Naughty Dog, the primary developer associated with the Jak and Daxter series, has commented more than once on working Jak and Daxter. They expressed a degree of reservation with not working on The Lost Frontier themselves, and in an interview published in 2015, it was revealed that attempts at making another Jak and Daxter game didn’t align with their creative visions in the past several years, as their tastes then (and probably now) for realism and high-end hardware would result in the Uncharted series and The Last of Us games.

The aforementioned interview does suggest that Naughty Dog is willing to return to the franchise, but there’s not much commentary further than that. But throughout the past decade, Naughty Dog has been busy working on two very popular and very resource-intensive franchises in The Last of Us and Uncharted, and The Last of Us II is on its way. Naughty Dog had at one point planned for a new Jak And Daxter game – a reboot of the series, more visually grounded in realism, but they were disappointed with the result of their drafting and the idea was scrapped. There is only one possible hint of a Jak and Daxter sequel being in the works, and it’s a stretch – it dates back to a March 8th, 2018, tweet made by Jak’s The Lost Frontier voice actor, Josh Keaton, shown in motion-capture getup. It appears to some that the studio in which the tweet takes place is a Naughty Dog studio. But this speculation is still conjecture and there’s nothing to say it wasn’t for his work in another title, such as the recently released Marvel’s Spider-Man.

What can be said about the Jak and Daxter series at the moment is that there’s nothing positive indicating a sequel from any relevant personnel, and certainly no commitment to the idea – not even a “the doors are open and we are looking into it” type of statement. Naughty Dog frequently acknowledges that the fan desire for a new Jak and Daxter is great, but it never seems to align with their creative desires. This isn’t to say that another development team couldn’t work on a new game, but hints to that effect aren’t anywhere to be seen.

It’s clear that Sony certainly hasn’t forgotten about Jak and Daxter, what with the re-releases on PS3, the Vita, and for PS4, but it’s not at all clear that this will amount to a new game altogether. While Jak and Daxter is well-known as a fan favorite series, it’s not clear that there is a direction for a new game in the franchise, either. Thus, fans are left with little but to wait and see. What would you hope for in a new Jak and Daxter game – a sequel within the existing continuity, or a reboot? Do you think that the Jak and Daxter series needs to be revived? What are your experiences with the franchise? Be sure to leave your thoughts in the comments section.

WARNING: There may be some spoilers ahead.

TRIP (ENSLAVED: ODYSSEY TO THE WEST)

Enslaved: Odyssey to the West is a woefully overlooked and criminally underrated game, and the character of Trip is perfectly emblematic of just how good a game it was. On paper, Trip should be nothing more than yet another annoying character in a glorified escort mission – you literally have to carry her weight – but she proves to be so much more. During gameplay, she can actually be pretty helpful, but what helps her really stand out is just how well written she is as a character, plain and simple. That excellent writing is backed up by equally excellent acting and voice work, and watching her relationship with Monkey grow over the course of the game is one of the highlights in an excellent game.

With Sony’s games generally doing so well now- games like Horizon, The Last of Us, all sell millions upon millions of copies- it is now clear that no matter what they put out, as long as they push it, they will have an audience waiting for it. An audience that trusts that Sony will deliver only on quality, and nothing else. It is well earned trust- and maybe Sony could now use that trust to bring back some of the lesser known, but absolutely fantastic, gems from their first party lineup of the past. Gems like…

WILD ARMS

"Japanese RPGs are on a resurgence now, with games like Persona 5, NieR Automata, Tales of Berseria, Xenoblade Chronicles 2, and Octopath Traveler all having broken out and done surprisingly well in just the last year. Sony themselves have a audience eager for quality Japanese content on the PS4, thanks to all the JRPGs that have hit it in the last few years- come on, Sony. What better time would there be to give Wild Arms another go than now?"

Come on, you knew I would start with this. Wild Arms was a series of fantastic, superlative Japanese role playing games, set in a western setting, blended with the traditional shonen elements, fantasy, and science fiction tropes that Japanese games, especially RPGs, so often favor. Wild Arms never managed to do too well in the west, either critically or commercially, but Sony could bring the series back, maybe in collaboration with a studio like Level-5, overseeing it with their rigorous standards of quality and polish. Japanese RPGs are on a resurgence now, with games like Persona 5, NieR Automata, Tales of Berseria, Xenoblade Chronicles 2, and Octopath Traveler all having broken out and done surprisingly well in just the last year. Sony themselves have a audience eager for quality Japanese content on the PS4, thanks to all the JRPGs that have hit it in the last few years- come on, Sony. What better time would there be to give Wild Arms another go than now? JRPGs are on the upswing, and there’s an appetite for them on consoles. Your own output is high polish, high quality, and well received. Just put out a new Wild Arms, and watch the adoration roll in. And no, I don’t mean that mobile game by WayForward.

WIPEOUT

What bites the most about Sony unceremoniously ditching Wipeout and shuttering their studio Sony Liverpool (née Pygnosis) is that Pygnosis was Sony’s first first party studio ever, and Wipeout their first major first party hit. The game was responsible, in very large part, for helping brand the original PlayStation with an image of being a cool lifestyle device, and not just a kids’ toy like previous consoles had been perceived. And it backed all that style with some substance too, with Wipeout Pure, Wipeout Pulse, and Wipeout HD and Fury being fantastic games that each showcased a new generation of PlayStation hardware. Sony ditching this franchise (beyond remastering older Wipeout games for PS4, and then making them PSVR compatible) really stings, especially because Wipeout would look so fantastic on modern hardware, and would benefit so much from the full rage of multiplayer functionality that modern consoles provide. With Sony not having any arcade racer in their first party lineup, and the futuristic racing genre having no other competition with Nintendo also just sitting on F-Zero, this would be the best chance to throw fans a bone, and bring Wipeout back. Do it Sony.

RESISTANCE

"Alternate history shooters, and shooters focusing primarily on their single player campaigns, have done well in the market in the last few years, and Sony themselves lack any shooter in their lineup, voids which Resistance could fill in."

Of all the many IP I will name in this article, Resistance is probably the least loved. Insomniac’s alternate history first person shooter series never quite seemed to find its footing in the market. The first game was a standard, if unremarkable, shooter, while the second chased many multiplayer trends, failing to capitalize on them, and also alienating the fans the first game had managed to pick up along the way. By the time the third game came out, the series had finally found its identity, and Resistance 3 remains one of the finest, and most underrated shooter campaigns of all time. But by then, it was too late- the market had moved on, and there were many other shooters for them to sink their time into. Things have changed since then, however- alternate history shooters, and shooters focusing primarily on their single player campaigns, have done well in the market in the last few years, and Sony themselves lack any shooter in their lineup, voids which Resistance could fill in. Given Insomniac’s own output is so much more high quality now than it was in the early, confused PS3 days too, I have no doubts a new Resistance would be absolutely fantastic. Maybe after Spider-Man?

JAK AND DAXTER

Who would argue with someone wanting Jak and Daxter back? Before Naughty Dog became Sony’s prestige studio, pushing the envelope on interactive storytelling with their games, they were known for making great mascot platformers. Crash Bandicoot on the PlayStation, and Jak and Daxter on the PS2- the latter games being great, whimsical open world platforming collectathons with action elements strewn in. Jak and Daxter never found the kind of following Crash did, mostly because of a mid-series pivot into trying to go in a more serious and gritty direction, but the games remained high quality, and would do exceptionally well today- especially now that Sony’s own lineup seems to lack anything meaningful in the way of platformers, something like a (non-gritty) Jak and Daxter would go a long way in adding some color and variety to their portfolio.

WARHAWK

"Warhawk is tailor made for success in today’s market- Sony just has to be smart and revive it. They sorely lack multiplayer games of cosequence in their lineup- Warhawk could change that."

Okay, stay with me here. Warhawk was absolutely freaking fantastic, especially the PS3 reboot. It was a multiplayer game of the kind that there have been few of since, and it was way too ahead of its time. It managed to do well, but it preceded its market by at least a half decade. Now, imagine a new Warhawk put out by Sony- no campaign, just multiplayer. Make it free to play, make it a GaaS style game, add cosmetic microtransactions to support it. Ensure the unique multiplayer style and spirit of the PS3 game is maintained. Warhawk is tailor made for success in today’s market- Sony just has to be smart and revive it. They sorely lack multiplayer games of consequence in their lineup- Warhawk could change that.

Note: The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of, and should not be attributed to, GamingBolt as an organization.