When it comes to gaming icons, regardless of the publisher whose banner they fall under, they have two paths they can take. The first path is that they’re eternally used by that publisher because they are a recognizable figure that can generate buzz and revenue should things go smoothly with development. We see this kind of thing with Mario and Sonic, as well as numerous fighting game characters like Ryu and Liu Kang. The other path is that they’ll “have their run” and then ride off into the sunset. Sly Cooper was one such gaming icon who had that happen to him, but people recently made it clear that they still love his titles.
If you don’t know, Sly and his Cooper Gang were some of the icons of the PlayStation 2. Made by Sucker Punch, the initial trilogy featured Sly going on a quest to first reclaim his family’s legacy, then forever stopping their eternal nemesis, and then finding his family line’s sacred treasure so he could continue their great name. All three games were successful on the PlayStation 2, and that led to a fourth game coming out on the PS3 that was all about time travel.
Recently, Sly’s first title became a Premium Title on PlayStation Plus, and according to TrueTrophies, it was the biggest launch the gaming catalog had seen. Oh, and there were millions of accounts that were looked at to get this information, so it wasn’t just a small amount of people playing the game.
Does this mean anything? It’s hard to say. If anything, it just shows that there are plenty of people on PS Plus who have Premium memberships and are fans of Sly’s first title and want a hint of nostalgia. However, that doesn’t mean it can’t lead to something.
After all, nostalgia has been hitting all the console makers recently, and they’ve been trying to grow their gaming libraries and spreading them out as best they can. Sony, especially, has already admitted that they do not have any new games in existing franchises until the next fiscal year. That doesn’t mean they can’t do a port of Sly’s original trilogy and bring the fourth game in to boot to see if people still want to play it.
If things go well and Sucker Punch is available, they could always do another Sly Cooper title and see what happens. It is a unique gaming franchise, and we all need some variety in our gaming life.
