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Overseas reports claim that Sony is considering reviving “Ape Escape,” the beloved original PlayStation series, for the first time in 16 years. According to the reports, Team Asobi — the studio behind “Astro Bot” — is not involved in this particular project. On 5ch’s Hardware/Industry (Geha) board, the news sparked a wave of questions such as “Is there even demand for this among today’s audience?” and “Does it make sense to release it as a PS5 exclusive?”, with many commenters arguing any new release should launch alongside a Switch version as a given. Drawing on nostalgia from longtime fans and sales figures from past entries, opinions on whether the revival makes sense ended up split.
Original PlayStation hit “Ape Escape” to return after 16 years? Sony reportedly reviving the series, with Team Asobi not involved in development
2026.10.03
Information has surfaced that Sony is considering reviving the “Ape Escape” series, which hasn’t seen a new entry in a long time.
Source: sumahodigest.com / Original article here
What people said
so they've been dangling more and more projects of questionable existence, like Last of Us and Ape Escape 🙄
Those "Sony trump cards" are all titles that barely sell in Japan anyway lol
If they release it as a PS exclusive it's guaranteed to bomb — are they really okay with that?
Even bringing back an old game like this only makes sense if a Switch release is a given.
If they're doing revivals, shouldn't Gravity Rush or Toro Inoue come first?
It's way too late now.
It used to sell 500,000+ copies at its peak, but even though this was just a VR-only(-ish) title, was this really the last entry, 16 years ago now… (the one before that, Pipo-saru Senki, sold only 15,000 copies)
are middle-aged guys really going to play a kids' game?
Though if foreign developers make it, it'll probably just end up as another generic Western horror game.
That's actually what happened with the PS3 one.
The setting is still a Japanese village, but
practically every character in it is a foreigner.
At this point, if anyone other than Japan Studio makes it, it'll just end up as a completely different game, and even if it does come out, all I can see is it bombing.
so why not just make a remake of 3 instead?
But Sony and Kojima Productions are on bad terms, aren't they? 🤭
Unless it's like the Bandai Namco pattern where the original creator is desperate to bring it back, I don't see this happening…
The creator is at Team Asobi now… (he also worked on Gonjiro)
Next it'll be a ¥200,000 wall.
PS6 Pro will probably launch in Japan at ¥50,000.
The current PS5 is already holding steady at ¥50,000,
and the LPDDR5X in the PS6 Pro is way cheaper to produce by comparison.
I've been saying all along they should revive Ape Escape, Toro, Astro, Everybody's Golf, and Patapon as Switch multiplatform releases.
Sony has steered toward increasing first-party exclusives,
so a Switch multiplatform release is absolutely not happening.
It was designed to be played with the symmetrical analog sticks of the DualShock, so it'd probably be hard to release on Switch-type systems, which use Pro Controllers with asymmetrical sticks copied from the Xbox controller.
Stick placement alone isn't that big a deal.
Now, a system that doesn't even have a right stick at all — that would be a real problem for Ape Escape.
By that logic, Katamari Damacy seems like it'd be even harder to play without symmetrical sticks, but it's out on Switch.
Judging by how that went, even a Switch multiplatform release feels like it'd just be too late at this point.
Honestly, everything about it is too slow.
Even when Everybody's Golf and Patapon got their surprise announcement at a Nintendo Direct, the only people making noise about it were on the hardware board (Geha) — the general public barely reacted at all.
So what was it that it was missing?
The PS3 era was the problem. There was no kid audience and development costs got too high, so they couldn't put out a new entry.
They tried hard on PSP too, but without a right stick they couldn't release a mainline game, so they put out spin-offs like racing games instead (though Saru Get You P did come out).
Do they really think people are going to go out and buy a brand-new PS5 just to play this?
Even if they revive a Sony first-party game that was popular back in the day, it's unlikely to bring in any new players.
Background and Key Points of the Discussion
“Ape Escape” began on the PS1 in 2001 as one of Sony’s early first-party titles, winning fans of all ages with its claw-machine-like monkey-capturing action. However, the series’ new releases dried up after a PS Vita title around 2010, with its most recent entry being “Furi Furi! Ape Escape,” a PS Move-compatible minigame collection. SCE Japan Studio, which handled development, has since been dissolved, and some of its staff have since joined Team Asobi, the studio currently behind “Astro Bot.” A notable feature of this overseas leak is that it specifies Team Asobi is not involved in the revival project, which set off a flurry of questions on the thread about who would actually develop it and who it’s even being made for. Opinions split mainly over whether there’s any commercial sense in releasing it as a PS5 exclusive given that longtime fans now skew middle-aged, with many arguing a Switch multiplatform release should be a given. Readers should keep in mind that this is still unconfirmed information originating overseas, not an official announcement from Sony.
*This article is compiled as an excerpt and summary from the 5ch (Hardware/Industry, Geha) thread “PS5 “Ape Escape” New Title Announcement After 16 Years?! Overseas Leak Claims an Ape Escape Project Exists.”
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