Crash Bandicoot 5 was cancelled in favour of live service games, it’s claimed

A new report has claimed that Crash Bandicoot 5 was in development at developer Toys For Bob, but it was canceled due to Activision pulling back on funding single-player titles in favour of live-service multiplayer titles.

According to a new report from gaming historian Liam Robertson, the game, which was in the very early stages of production, was cancelled following what Activision considered as muted sales for Crash Bandicoot 4: It’s About Time.

Around the same time, it’s claimed Activision shot down pitches for other sequels to single-player titles, such as Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater. 

The report claims that following Toys For Bob’s work on the Spyro Reignited Trilogy, the company conceptualized a multiplayer Crash title, before deciding to take the work they had done on that multiplayer title and use it to build a new, single-player entry in the Crash franchise. This would eventually lead to Crash Bandicoot 4: It’s About Time.

Following this release, Toys For Bob set a small group of developers the task of envisioning the future of the series, a project that would be referred to internally as Crash Bandicoot 5.  This would have been a single-player 3D platformer, and a direct sequel to Crash Bandicoot 4: It’s About Time, it’s claimed.

The report contains alleged concept art and proposed story concepts for the unannounced game, which include the game taking place at a school for villainous children, featuring returning villains from previous games.

One supposed concept even saw Crash team up with Spyro, following an interdimensional threat to both worlds. According to the report, “Crash and Spyro were intended to be the two playable characters.”

Last month, a former Toys For Bob artist claimed that a fifth Crash Bandicoot game was cancelled at the studio.

Crash Bandicoot N. Sane Trilogy was added to Game Pass earlier this month.