After more than 15 years, it seems that more Ape Escape may finally be on the way. According to VGC and former Giant Bomb journalist Jeff Gerstmann, developer Evening Star is working on a revival of Ape Escape for Sony Interactive Entertainment. Sonic Mania's lead designer, Christian Whitehead, founded Evening Star in 2018.
The studio later launched its 3D platformer Penny’s Big Breakaway in 2024. My understanding is that it’s an external studio. You know, because people were immediately like, ‘Oh, Team Asobi (Astro Bot) is making it.’ My understanding is that an external team has been working on that.
What do they make… Penny’s Big Breakaway. I heard that they were working on it.” Team Asobi is what remains of the acclaimed Japan Studio, which developed Ape Escape, LocoRoco, Siren, Gravity Rush, Shadow of the Colossus, and The Last Guardian. Sony disbanded Japan Studio in 2021, merging its employees into Team Asobi and other Sony teams.
After the success of Astro Bot, many assumed Team Asobi would handle the game. Astro Bot included an homage to Ape Escape with the "Apes On The Loose" level in the Gorilla Nebula section of the game. Rumors about the return of Ape Escape have been swirling for quite some time, but this is the most concrete information we’ve received.
According to VGC, multiple sources confirmed that Sony is looking to bring back many of its other dormant franchises through licensing these titles to outside studios (probably because it dismantled the internal studios that could do it in pursuit of failed live-service games). Sony previously did this when it partnered with Bandai Namco for 2025's Everybody’s Golf: Hot Shots. Sony is also reportedly looking into reviving the Killzone series.
While the last Ape Escape release was technically PlayStation Move Ape Escape, this maligned tie-in wasn’t a mainline entry. The series debuted in 1999 with Ape Escape,followed by Ape Escape 2 (2003) andApe Escape 3 (2005). There were also numerous spinoffs and party games, but it’s been more than 20 years since a central entry in the series.
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