As Jack Tretton’s successor, Shawn Layden has been doing a lot of things right since stepping into the role of President and CEO of Sony Computer Entertainment America (SCEA), but wearing a Crash Bandicoot t-shirt on stage at the PlayStation Experience 2015 over the weekend probably wasn’t one of them—especially when fans are so eager for the marsupial mascot to make a comeback after all these years.
Afterall, why would Layden wear such an obvious t-shirt, if not to announce a Crash Bandicoot revival? Or perhaps he was just trolling us? Unfortunately, it turned out to be the latter, as nothing regarding the 90s PlayStation icon was mentioned at the event. Naturally, folk have been wondering just why Layden wore the t-shirt, but sadly, even Shuhei Yoshida doesn’t know the answer.
Speaking during a Q&A session during the PS, I Love You panel, Yoshida-san, who heads up Sony Computer Entertainment Worldwide Studios (SCE WWS), said he had no idea why Layden strapped on the Crash t-shirt, and didn’t even know he was going to be wearing it. Sadly, it doesn’t look like the big-grinning, crate-smashing platform hero will be thrust into the spotlight again anytime soon, although in a year that has given us Shenmue 3 and Final Fantasy VII Remake announcements, we continue to live in hope.
Crash Bandicoot was championed as Sony’s answer to Mario during the mid-late 90s, with the first three games and spin-off Crash Team Racing being developed by Naughty Dog, who would later go onto release Uncharted and The Last of Us. The PS2-era saw numerous developers tackle the franchise, which went multiplatform as opposed to being exclusive to PlayStation formats, with the series going on to ship 50 million worldwide across 18 releases.