Why Won’t Activision Give Naughty Dog The Rights To Make Another Crash Bandicoot Game

After reading up on how Naughty Dog wants to do another Crash Bandicoot game and even letting Activision in on the project, here is some of playtationgang reasons why Activision declined ND to the rights.

[XiSasukeUchiha]

Activision please give Sony/ND their creation back you heartless monster!

[Abash]

They don't even have to give Crash back, just form a partnership with Sony for the Crash Bandicoot reboot.

[nirwanda]

I bet it would be cheaper to licence taz mania from warner bros let's be honest he's just as recognisable as crash and crash was just a copy of him in the first place.

[SonyPS4]

Activision would rather make their own Crash games, adding regenerative health and checkpoints, and hope it would succeed only for them to find out that kind of game wasn't what Crash fans wanted.

[UltraNova]

@Sony ps4

Actually, Activision would rather release Crash on anything and everything with a controller...no deal from just Sony would ever be enough for them...they're in the milking business for a reason.

[nirwanda]

Just to show everyone what I ment with the tax reference here is tax mania on the snez from 1993 3 years before crash limited with the tech of the day and mode 7 graphics.
You can still see where naughty dog got the idea adding much more platforming to it.
http://youtu.be/sji3fkpjLuU

[souga_houjou_jin]

that would mean exclusive to sony
do u really excpect noobs like activi$sion to allow that ?

[XiNarutoUzumaki]

They should give Crash back. He deserves better. I want Crash to go back to his roots.

Off topic: or, we can just burn their HQ with your Amateratsu

[bmf7364]

Activision is a joint-company with Blizzard. We will have to selectively demolish the half that has to do with keeping Crash from the world and that approves of the retexture and rehashing of Call of Duty and Skylanders.

[Deadpoolio]

Naughty Dog NEVER owned Crash Bandicoot to begin with, Sony didn't ever own it either...It was property and owned solely by Universal Interactive along with Spyro, until it was sold to Activision....You can't "give back" something someone NEVER owned

[LightDiego]

True Sasuke.
Just sell it Activision, you are not capable to make a true Crash game.

[lelo]

Activision would probably let Naughty Dog make a new Crash Bandicoot Game if it was multiplatform. It would make no sense to Activision if it was a Sony exclusive.

[ifistbrowni]

"it would make no sense"

How about money? Wouldn't it make them money?

What makes no sense is: having a franchise like Crash and doing nothing with it. I know if I wasn't using something, and someone said, "hey, i'll make that thing worth a lot of money if you partner with me," I would jump on the offer in seconds. After all, I was doing NOTHING with it.

[Darkstares]

Lots of ip's sit idle. Sony owns Heavenly Sword, why don't they give it back to Ninja Theory? Naughty Dog works for Sony, Activision is a third party publisher. Maybe in the future they can work together but it would be only on Sony devices because Sony would not allow Naughty Dog to make games on anything else.

Who knows, with the PS4 doing so well it might make sense to do it but i'd rather Naughty Dog focus on other games.

[lelo]

@ifistbrowni
Some people have no business sense. Tell me something. Who do you think should finance this supposed Sony exclusive or do you expect Naughty Dog to work for free?

Let's take a look at some scenarios:

- Activision pays 100% development costs and Naughty Dog makes the game exclusive to PS4. Very very very unlikely.

- Activision and Sony divide the costs and Naughty Dog makes the game exclusive to PS4?. Unlikely. Activision is not going to pay half the costs simply to keep the game exclusive to the PS4. They would loose a crap load of money in lost sales from the WiiU, X1 and PC. Activision have money to spare to pay for 100% development and keep 100% of profits.

- Sony pays 100% development, but have to divide the profits with Activision because they own the IP. Unlikely. Sony own a crap load of IP's, why would they invest 100% in developing a IP that's not theirs and take a cut in the profits?

- Sony buys the IP from Activision and Naughty Dog makes the game. Possible but does Sony have money to spare ?

- Activision pays for 100% development, a internal (or external) studio makes the game, and they receive 100% profits from sales on PS4, WiiU, X1 and PC.

- Activision realises the IP is not worth developing at this moment and let's it rest for a few more years.

Witch of these scenarios is more likely to happen ?

[Chrischi1988]

Exactly. As ifistbrowni said, it is about the money, but not the way he said it. Making a game exclusive is not the best thing to do for a third party dev. Crash could sell on any plattform, even Wii U, for the kind of game it is. It would mean losing money. Or they let them make a game and it is only half hearted...

Sony would need to step in and pay almost full for it, just like Nintendo did with Bayonetta or their Sega exclusive deal.

Then there is also the question, how did Crash end up in Activisions hands in the first place?

[ShAkKa]

Would make more sense than letting the IP rot like it is now.

[ShinMaster]

It would make even less sense for ND to make a multiplatform game.
Sony/Activision deal could work. This wouldn't be the first third-party exclusive deal.

[Lightning Mr Bubbles]

I would love another crash game but I never heard that Naughty Dog wants to make it, it will probably be someone else.

[OrangePowerz]

All I'm seeing in the article is a lot of Activision sucks without even having researched really. Activision only made one Crash game and that was for mobile.

[wheresmymonkey]

Crash was never sony's nieher was Spyro. Thy were both poperty of universal and then Sierra and then activision.

[Godmars290]

Activision would likely either want it multi, take a larger than fair royalty cut, or ask too much to sell off the IP outright.

[Visiblemarc]

They are just holding out till Sony's offer is big enough (read: till they overpay.)

Is why I think they've been denying one-off rights too (Like for Allstars). Afraid it will devalue the brand by proving that demand is more cult than anything.

Don't get me wrong, I hope Sony gets it back, but paying through the nose is excessive.

[ITPython]

I wouldn't be surprised if MS was behind this one, last thing they need is for Sony to have yet another extremely well known blockbuster game series under their belt for this generation.

[Ihatetrolls76]

Why doesn't sony give insomniac there games back?

[souga_houjou_jin]

no just no
so the ycna bring them to the xbox ?
hell no

beside insomniac games belongs to sony

[dpatrick]

Apparently, Naughty Dog held a contest where fans could draw their favorite characters from past Naughty Dog games. Naughty Dog asked Activision if they could use Crash just for the contest but they wouldn't give them the rights to use Crash Bandicoot for their contest.

[johndoe11211]

Because like EA, they're a bunch of greedy, selfish, money hoarding, grease-my-palm gaming industry parasites. They're just waiting, thinking about ways to milk that franchise for as much money as possible.

They're probably thinking that if they give it to naughty dog then it would limit the sales to ps systems alone. I bet right now they are trying to figure out how to bring it to all systems without pissing sony off.

[dotwithshoes]

I know, Imagine that.. a company wanting to make as much money as possible. Activision is terrible for that.

[johndoe11211]

You obviously missed the point of my comment. seeing that as far as you are concerned it's ok for for a company to make money however they see fit, I guess you're one of those people who have no issues with pre-order dlc, online passes, microtransactions and exclusive dlc. ok then.

[zeuanimals]

"A company wanting to make as much money as possible"

Can't make money on a license if you're not making anything that has to do with said license. If they actually had something in the pipeline that was related to Crash, then sure, I can see where your point is valid but right now, it's just them being stubborn with a license.

[IcicleTrepan]

They've probably quoted Sony a price/deal in the past that Sony didn't like, and they're holding out for that.

[ocelot07]

I sort of agree. But am sure Activision is making little to no money right now just letting the IP rot right? Well would it not be better to make a a bit more money by letting Naughty Dog make a new game for PS4 rather than continuing letting it rot.

[mediate-this]

Everything takes time, sony has alot of I.P's and so does alot of other companies, modernizing thrm is the hard part, fitting them in.

Sony should a legand of dragoons prequel

[xx4xx]

Yes. They should give away the rights to another company so they can make money off of it instead. Makes perfect sense.

[Golden_Mud]

Well Activision is stupid on those terms , ND knows Crash cause they created it , why would anybody else wanna create content for something they never created in the first place.

Activision and a lot of other companies need to realize when you get developers or games out of their originality , you'll never find the same success you found before.
Not only Activision but Bioware being purchased by EA destroyed Bioware's vision , actually some Bioware developers went on and created or joined other studios like Black Tusk Studios , or SledgeHammer Games.

[BigBosss]

Here is the petition to bring back Crash!

http://www.change.org/en-GB...

Let our voices be heard! #BringBackCrash

[DoctorJones]

The petition won't work, Activision won't care about it. It's their ip, a few people on the internet aren't going to force them to do anything.

#WasteOfTime

[OUROSMAG]

Just like the petition sent to Massive to develop a PC version of The Division didn't work, or the petition to bring GTA V to PC didn't work?

#Yourewrong

[Fishy Fingers]

Both of those games would have already come to PC. It won't of been down to a petition.

[abc1233]

Lol, you think they were ported to PC because of a petition...

[Zichu]

Judging by how many people have signed the petition and the amount of days that have passed, doesn't seem like people care too much about it...

[Team_Litt]

Give it back? Lol yeah that's how business works, you simply give multi million dollar franchises you paid for to whomever because the internet is petitioning. /s

Sony should pony up the money to buy Crash if they want it that badly. Bottom line.

[Spotie]

Yeah, because Activision is making sooooo much money on Crash right now, right?

And the people that want to see the franchise return only want it to change hands without money being involved, right?

How ignorant can you get? If it were a reasonable amount, Sony would have gotten it already. But this is Activision we're talking about. They'd rather keep the IP and do NOTHING with it than have it become a continual source of income.

They sound about as intelligent as you, at this point.

[Team_Litt]

Take a gander at Activision financials, now Sony's now back at Activision. Sadly, Sony is in the toilet, they cannot afford even a reasonble amount right now.
It is their IP to not/do as they please with. You can moan all you want and call me ignorant if that makes you feel better but Activision OWN Crash. Not Sony, not ND, and not you or the horde of other diehards.

If it is not for sale then tough cookies, no dice.

So emotional when your precious Sony is involved aren't you? In one comment you have personally attacked me TWICE, lol chill bro.

[OrangePowerz]

They couldn't even give it "back" because neither Sony or ND ever owned the IP it was always Universal/Sierra who had the rights. It was never theirs to begin with.

Also I didn't really see anything where ND said they would want to make a new one. They already stated that they have currently no plans to make a new Jak and Daxter because they want to do games like Uncharted and TLoU at the moment.

[truefan1]

Well put Team Litt, well put. I don't understand why people think any of these companies are white knights. These are businesses first and foremost. If sony wants the ip, they need to buy it, or at least work with Activision to develop a game.

[ziggurcat]

@litt @ truefan:

It's implied that money would be involved in the returning of the crash franchise to naughty dog, so cut the crap.

And we all know, truefan, that if this was a MS IP, you'd be on your hands, and knees begging for them to just give it back for free.

[Imalwaysright]

Is Sony even trying to buy the rights of the IP from Activision?

[tigertron]

The ball is in Sony's court. They should make Activision and offer they can't refuse.

[OUROSMAG]

Too busy settling out of court.. They don't have the money to make an offer to Activision.

[DeadlyOreo]

But they have the money to make and advertise a new console, make games like Uncharted 4, secure exclusive rights to games like Bloodborne, etc.

Lol, silly person.

[Daniel_Potter]

Straight from wikipedia
"In recent months, Sony has been selling off and reducing multiple departments and holdings in order to increase profits.[19] In February 2014, Sony announced the sale of its Vaio PC division to a new corporation owned by investment fund Japan Industrial Partners and spinning its TV division into its own corporation as to make it more nimble to turn the unit around from past losses totaling $7.8 billion over a decade.[20] Later that month, they announced that they would be closing 20 stores.[21] In April, the company announced that they would be selling 9.5 million shares in Square Enix (roughly 8.2 percent of the game company's total shares) in a deal worth approximately $48 million.[19] In May 2014 the company announced it was forming two joint ventures with Shanghai Oriental Pearl Group to manufacture and market Sony's PlayStation games consoles and associated software in China.[22]"

[ocelot07]

Wow it has been what a whole day since I heard a Sony has no money comment.

For a company that publishes movies,makes games,makes game consoles,mobile phones,TV's there doing a heck of a lot for a company with "no money"

They really need to share there secret.

[OUROSMAG]

I forgot sarcasm doesn't go very far on the internet, lol smh... calm down folks.

[abc1233]

Well that comes down to whether Sony thinks that whatever price they would need to offer Activision is worth the money they would be able to make from the IP themselves. Since this hasn't already happened I'm guessing the answer is no.

[Clown_Syndr0me]

Am I the only one that things we should let Crash go?
The original games were so good, and the nostalgia os fantastic.
I cant help but think it couldn't ever have the same effect as the originals. I was going to make a comparison to the new Rayman games, but then I thought actually theyve been received very well so maybe Im wrong.
I would definately buy a Naughty Dog Crash anyway.....Im rambling.

[Zichu]

I think with Rayman, they decided to go back to a 2D perspective and graphics, but a unique art style and the addition of some amazing music levels.

I always found the music in Rayman 1 to be quite relaxing and great. I didn't really enjoy the 3D Rayman games. Them going to back to this style, but making a lot of improvements has really made Rayman stand out from a lot of other platformers.

Crash would have to be the same, I lost interest when they Naughty Dog and even when Traveller's Tales stopped developing them. They need to go back to an old style of gameplay and mechanics, but update the graphics, make a unique art style and it might be just as good as the early Crash games.

[Clown_Syndr0me]

Yeah definately, I just wonder if it came to it and a new Crash in the original style was released, would it still be good?
Games have evolved so much, would it still be relevant and appealing? IM in two minds about it, in sure all the gamers who played the originals would love it but maybe younger gamers/newcomers would not appreciate it so much?

[NBT91]

I'd like to see a remake of the original Crash Bandicoot game I think. It actually does need it IMO. Awkward save game system and way you get gems just make it frustrating, even having a map to awkwardly pick levels instead of the warp rooms used in 2 and 3.

Crash 1 hasn't aged well IMO. I think a remake of that one would be the perfect way to bring the character back.
It worked for OddWorld.

[Inzo]

Why did ND sell the rights?

[Kane22]

they didn't, universal studios owned the rights at the time. right along with spyro.

[Golden_Mud]

They didn't , Universal did .

ND wasn't owned by Sony yet at that time and the distributor was Universal Interactive Studios who actually sold the franchise to Activision.

[lemoncake]

The main reason is money, if they could agree on that then it could be done, activision are not just going to give something away for free. Also would naughty dog and Sony want to spend their time improving a franchise they don't own and would only have limited rights too, I don't think so. Gaming is now big business.

[MartinB105]

Activision are the worst publisher bar none. They're also the only publisher I won't buy games from. Activision are nothing but business; they have zero care for consumers, they're the definition of a soulless corporation.

I just don't understand why it's always EA getting all the flack; Activison are much worse than EA.

[johndoe11211]

Do you work for EA?

[kingPoS]

They're part of the reason why I don't don't like Cod. The second & last game I bought from them was Blur, the first being Tony Hawk's project 8... which sucked btw. I've long since stopped playing it since GT5 came out.

It didn't even have wheel support... che!

Gateway MT6706 2008

[Relientk77]

Because Activision is all about money. They are probably working on a Crash Bandicoot Skylanders game. They are disgusting give the rights to Crash back and Spyro while you're at it. Stop killing my childhood.

[THC CELL]

Boycot Activision will hurt them before destiny comes out, give nd crash back or face 500 million loss on destiny hehhe

Sorry bungie we love u but next time team up with someone other than Activision or ea

[ScorpiusX]

So you're willing to put friends or people you don't know out of work for a game
Dude you need help.lol

[SonyNGP]

This comment reminds me of the Left 4 Dead 2 boycott. People said they were gonna boycott it, and the majority of them were playing it at launch LOL

[ScorpiusX]

Does no one realize that this demand is making it harder on sony to obtain IP ownership at a reasonable price. While also fueling Activision love of money, which personal hope it leads to a Multi platform games release. Which in any case is still a win for consumers.

[XtraTrstrL]

Multiplat Crash would be pretty corny. Sony has let too many franchises go multiplat. They should have bought Square Enix back in the day when they had the chance, and kept them a good 1st party company. Instead of respecting them so much and letting them be independent. Square Enix could have used that direction from Sony as a 1st party company under them, looking at where their quality has gone over recent years. Sony needs to stop playing this time around, because Microsoft isn't the usual console competitor. It's not like back in the day with Nintendo vs Sega, when rivalry was more innocent and the worse done was commercials dissing each other. From it's entry, Microsoft has been willing to put the whole gaming world in jeopardy over the throne.

They started $$Live$$ back on the original Xbox. They started out with lies, constantly switching up how Silver/Gold would work. At first Silver would be free online like Gold, but Gold would give benefits like PS+ does now and enter you into contests etc. By launch, they twisted it until Silver meant you could do nothing at all online, and Gold was just regular paywalled online. I guess it was easier to downgrade everything to a mere paywalled online, rather than stick to their words and offer a proper service to begin with. I got it to play Capcom vs SNK 2:EO. It was doing nothing for you, with no options, just allowing you to play your p2p.

They even tried to bring $$Live$$ to PC, and got chased off by an angry mob, and Games for Windows Live has since been shut down. They're hubris got to them on that stupid idea. Too many willing Xbots swole their heads into thinking they could charge universally for what has always been free. Now they're the king of 180s with the next hubris move on X1. X1 nearly died being born, that's how horribly anti-consumer and evil it was coming with it's approach. It was a horrible way to start a generation too, showing your words mean nothing, and only 180ing when sales and pre-orders slow up - not when they hear people upset.

[XtraTrstrL]

I wouldn't put it past Microsoft to pay Activision to not let Crash be made. Hah.

[ScorpiusX]

That would be a waste of money, would be better used if they obtained a crash exclusive or content exclusive for when Activision release the next crash game.

[XtraTrstrL]

Nawh, just exaggerating, to say that's how evil Microsoft is.

[MultiConsoleGamer]

There are maybe two or three good Crash games and tons of bad ones. You don't want him back. We've got Sack Boy now.

[annus]

That's because after the first few games it was sold and made by other people...

[Legend]

The creators of the first few (Jason Rubin and Andy Gavin), who were also the founders of Naughty Dog, left in 2004. This definitely doesn't help to bolster the claim that modern day ND has any real right to the game seeing as how the actual creators of the series haven't been part of ND for the better part of a decade.

[Jdoki]

Take a look at what happened to Spyro and you'll have your answer

[we420]

I hate Activision. I used to like them when Tony Hawks games were coming out and they actually published great games now they only stick with CoD... They are doing good with Destiny however.

Dammit Activision give Sony back the rights.

[contradictory]

it doesn't really make much sense for Naughty Dog to make Crash now, the developer team has changed somewhat between the years and they've been doing fantastic job with Uncharted series and TLOU

and personally i'd rather see another Uncharted game than another Crash game.

luckily for me there's another Uncharted game coming up!
and suddenly PS4 starts looking like something i'd buy..

well, that and Phantom Pain really

[MegaDan]

Or maybe you fear the fact that if Sony & ND regains Crash Badicoot Micro$oft definitely wont be able to catch up to Sony's sales numbers, i see Insecurity written all over your comment.

[contradictory]

what an intelligent man you are,
i sure do care for Xbone's sales numbers /s

way to turn this into an fanboy argument
when i'm indeed a PC gamer
i don't care about console wars
all i care about are the console exclusives that make the consoles worth purchasing for me
and that's not Crash Bandicoot for me.
ND is one of the best console developers there is
i'd hate to see them waste their talents on
3D platformer

[Predaking77]

Because Activision knows Sony will turn it into a big hit.

If Activision is not doing anything with it, just give it to Sony.

[millgate1]

People, I highly doubt Sony is eager to spend a high price for a franchise seen only exclusively on one of their consoles, the PS1. More than 10 years ago. The people wanting the franchise to return are huge fans that played it during that time or just Playstation fanboys who just want it because.

I have a feeling it'll turn out like Ratchet and Clank right now. The only people who care about the new games are huge R&C fans. It was good for it's time, a good Mario competitor but the market has changed.

[OC_MurphysLaw]

probably because they want the next crash game to be multi platform and not console exclusive.

[Azzanation]

Bogus article. Activison paid for the Crash franchise. It wasn't like they were giving it for free. This being the case Activision wants to get its moneys worth and not believe they made a mistake in the purchase. Everyone begging for it will only convince Activision to keep the game as they know how popular the games can be. They will most likely make another Crash game on all platforms and probably invest a little more to make it successful again. You don't need ND to do that.

[arbitor365]

knowing activision and how greedy they are, im sure they want some obscene price for the IP that costs more than creating the game itself would be.

[Jiiiiiiin]

Who knows!

[oODEADPOOLOo]

Im optimistic Sony can get the IP back eventually, otherwise why would they go to trouble of including it in trailer on release of PS4 as a teaser? Activision has a poor record with making the games and would make more money from selling it back to ND or Sony. It's all a matter of time...and money, lol.

http://www.thesixthaxis.com...

[OverlordMao]

i wonder why the dont sell the ip. Activision doesnt seem interested to do something with crash.

At this point i just wish that Activision sell the ip. Needless to say that most of activision games that are not COD or Skylanders most of the time are horrible low budget games. Just look at men in black or walking dead made by activision.

[cyclindk]

Guess some people aren't up to date with the currrent bandicoot vs Naughty Dog legal snafu of late, tisk.

--

sna·fu
snaˈfo͞o/
NORTH AMERICANinformal
noun
1.
a confused or chaotic state; a mess.
"an enormous amount of my time was devoted to untangling snafus"
synonyms: muddle, mess, tangle, jumble, confusion; More

[e-p-ayeaH]

I dont think a mascot game in this day and age would be a big seller unless they make it like skylanders...

[XiHinataHyuga]

I hope Crash doesn't end up like Spyro. The NFC toy figures competition is growing with Skylanders, Disney Infinity, and now Nintendo Amiibo. Activision might transform Crash into something like Skylanders to keep up with the competition. I just want a CB game made by Naughty Gods without any of these NFC gimmicks, but if Activision does what I said, then we should just lose all hope.

[OldDude]

Why wont Activision give them the rights...

Because unlike what most people think on this site THIS IS A BUSINESS! If ND or another publisher wanted to buy the rights, yes they could determine a price and purchase the IP. Profits are how a business survives and everything Sony, MS and every 3rd party publisher does is for profit, period. Nobody sits around a board room and thinks about what they can give away. This industry is about money and if ND wanted to make a Crash game they can, they just have to buy the rights to do it

[heliotropic]

I'd love to see a new 3D platformer on the PS4, but if they can't get Crash, I'd be just as happy to get a brand new IP.

[wannabe gamer]

all they would do is release it then let the music license expire and be "forced" to remove it from market since they are too cheap to renew them even if the game has been out for only 6 months

[Drithe]

The real reason is business. It is ONLY business that keeps another Crash bandicoot game coming out.

One reason is they dont want to SHARE any money with Naughty Dog for making the game.

Another reason is they dont want the game to be recieved poorly, like the last one was, and they dont have a developer like ND to make the game. Until they do this game will NOT be made.

[ThichQuangDuck]

Capitalism

[TenkoTAiLS]

A lot more people seem to be wise to this fact but ugh...When will people some people understand that Crash was NEVER Naughty Dog's OR Sony's. EVER. Pop your copy of the original Crash in and tell me it doesn't come up with a UNIVERSAL logo. They have owned and produced the series since the start. Naughty Dog were only the developers working for Universal which is now Activision.

They can't give back what never belonged to Sony or Naughty Dog.

I would love a new one, I would love Naughty Dog to make it. But don't go crying foul when no foul was done. It's Activisons property through and through and the only harm they are doing is not using it. They haven't wronged either Sony or Naughty Dog.