Geez, you guys are cynical. Look, just because this one guy who works for Naughty Dog says on Twitter that Activison still owns Crash doesn't mean it's a 100% certainty. Here, let me just quote two helpful NeoGaf posts:
ALSO
Since people STILL apparently don't understand this:
Sony had a publishing contract for Crash 1, 2, Warped, Team Racing, and Bash.
They have no usage rights for them. And while I can't say for SURE, this contract is presumably the reason that when they distribute the games AS IS, the copyright text is the copyright text that is already listed on the games, with Universal Interactive Studios, as the contract would most likely not be altered thereafter.
There were rumors (which were alluded to in an official capacity somewhere, unless I'm remembering totally wrong) that Activision was the reason it couldn't be put out on Vita in NA regions.
Anybody who has REALLY played the first Crash game can look at the Uncharted 4 segments and tell you CONFIDENTLY that it's not the same code, and it's only partially the same art. The physics are different, the crates act differently, it's just NOT Crash 1. It's a convincing approximation but it's NOT emulated, and it's NOT ported, which would IMMEDIATELY disqualify them from saying "Hey, we made this one, it's ours" even if they DID have that level of usage rights, which they DO. NOT. HAVE.
If you need any more evidence, Naughty Dog used exclusively art from Crash 1-TR in their Art book. Art that they own and created (and some by Charles Zembillas and Joe Pearson, who are ALSO credited). They still had to credit Activision for their ownership of Crash Bandicoot.
They are using the Crash Bandicoot LOGO. Nate SAYS the WORDS "Crash Bandicoot". Regardless of the game content, the logo and name are Activision's IP regardless.
Another example of Activision's full ownership: The Uncharted 4 segment uses Crash Bandicoot 1 music. This is ACTUALLY the BEST example of how Activision owns the first several games, now that I think of it: Josh Mancell, the composer of the music for Crash 1 through Team Racing, has been trying to work with a label to release the Crash Bandicoot music on CD and digitally — he has been unable to because Activision has not been working with him. Sony has told him that they do not own the music or content from the games, as well.
If all the content in the first few games was owned by Sony just because they had the publishing and distribution contract, he wouldn't have to jump through all the hoops to deal with Activision to release music HE WROTE. If it was Sony-owned, they'd have been released by now.
No matter who 'made the content' or whether it's new or not, it's ACTIVISION'S PROPERTY under the current trademarks.
The fact they are not listed under the Uncharted 4 credits as owning it is VERY FUCKING SUSPECT when they are listed in the fucking art book, and 10 months ago, Naughty Dog members said that the fucking segment was IMPOSSIBLE (VERBATIM, mind you), for the very reason that they "didn't own it". The segment is IN THERE NOW. What does that imply to you? What else could people POSSIBLY ascertain from that wording and the resulting segment BEING in the game?
The reason its important to enforce having some sort of trademark message in new works when something is licensed is that it provides an easy defense against naked licencing accusations. Naked licencing essentially means allowing a licencor to use a mark in a new work without exercising any control over said work, and can result in a loss of the mark. This happening is pretty rare, but major corporations aren't known to take chances, and just having a requirement to throw in a "______ is a trademark of _____" when licencing is really simple, so in general it pretty much always a guarantee. Hence, for it to not be there in UC 4 with Activision still holding rights would be incredibly bizarre if this is from a third party deal.
Second, what constitutes a new work. Ultimately licencing agreements aren't set in stone and offer an incredible amount of flexibility. We may never know what exactly the full rights are of what Sony owns with the first three Crash games, but based on their comments earlier we can guess that it's pretty limited when it comes to new works. Would Crash in UC 4 count as a new work. It's significantly different from the PS 1 version in terms of code and even somewhat in terms of content. Could they argue in court that it's the same work? They could... and I guess I can see somewhat of an argument, though I personally think they'd lose. But at the end of the day, none of that matters because as I said, big corporations don't take risks with this stuff when it comes to other big corporations. They always work out some sort of deal beforehand, and said deal should involve crediting Activision.
Lastly, while TESS is updated daily on weekdays, who ultimately own a trademark in the USPTO database at some specified time doesn't necessarily mean that the mark still belongs to them as they just need to file the paperwork within a reasonable time frame. However, Boyes said it still belongs to Activision. But the thing with UC 4 is already there. So that would mean that there would have to be some sort of agreement involving licencing leading up to a transfer, but that's also something really strange and something I've never seen before. Plus, it's something they really didn't have to do, as pretty much the only benefit of such a deal would be that Boyes could claim "Activision still owns Crash", which really isn't necessary. Another alternative is that they set the date of transfer to the UC 4 release date, but that's been delayed a good amount and agreements such as these are usually more set in stone before hand.
So ultimately, there is definitely something fucky going on with the Crash IP. It could just be a long series of coincidences teasing wise followed by Naughty Dog making a pretty dumb blunder in terms of accreditation for a deal that was supposedly hard to obtain a year before hand, but personally I believe pretty strongly that Crash is coming back.
May I remind you that Activison is not credited anywhere in Uncharted 4. Sony and Activison LITERALLY MUST have worked out some sort of deal, or else Naughty Dog is staffed by a bunch of morons who're about to get their pants sued off. They can't even hide behind the "we made the original Crash, it's ours" defense since THEY CHANGED SOME OF THE GAMEPLAY MECHANICS, REDID THE SCENERY, AND ADDED BRAND NEW ANIMATIONS FOR CRASH. They use the Crash Bandicoot logo prominently and mention "Crash Bandicoot" by name. Activision's lawyers should be coming in swarms to file legal action, but so far they haven't been.
Something is going on. I don't know if it's remakes of the original games or a brand new game, but either way I have absolutely no reason to believe this random employee is telling the truth and every reason to believe the Crash Bandicoot franchise is about to make a comeback. I mean, c'mon, it's not like, if Naughty Dog had a major announcement to make, they'd do it anti-climatically over some random guy's Twitter. They could've just ordered their employees to lie about it until the time is right.
I've got Frozen, Spectacular Spider-Man, Crash, Spyro, and Paper Mario fanfics.
Main Character
![[up]](https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/smiles/arrow_up.png "[up]"){kind=icon}
In this industry, people pretty much need to be cynical, even if it makes them look like a bunch of debbie-downers.
Okay, fine, let's play the "hypothetical" game. Let's say despite ALL the teasing from Sony lately, Activision still 100% owns Crash. That means Activison was okay with Naughty Dog using their IP without crediting them whatsoever, whereas before they needed to credit Activision just to use some of Naughty Dog's own Crash artwork in their art book. Ten months ago, Naughty Dog flat-out said in an interview that they wanted to include a Crash easter egg in Uncharted 4, but they couldn't because of Activision.
This would mean Activision's basically tossed Naughty Dog the keys to their Crash Bandicoot car and are letting them take it for a drive. Which is STILL way better than these last couple years, which have seen absolutely ZERO excitement for a new Crash game from the general public.
If Activison's tossed them the keys once, will they do it a second time? Could we be getting another Crash easter egg in Uncharted 5 or Last of Us 2? Is Activison okay with Naughty Dog making an HD remake of the first game? Or releasing and/or remaking its soundtrack?
edited 10th May '16 6:48:18 AM by thebandragoness
I've got Frozen, Spectacular Spider-Man, Crash, Spyro, and Paper Mario fanfics.
This video has an excellent comparison of the original level and the Uncharted 4 version. This really makes it clear how much was changed:
This wasn't just something thrown into the game on a whim. A lot of time and effort went into making this.
I've got Frozen, Spectacular Spider-Man, Crash, Spyro, and Paper Mario fanfics.
Well, I'm convinced. I mean, ever since I saw what went into the Crash Easter egg in Uncharted 4, I've been convinced that something's going on regarding Crash Bandicoot.
Methinks that Sony's looking to blow us away at E3 this year like it did last year, only instead of re-announcing The Last Guardian, and announcing Final Fantasy VII Remake and Shenmue 3 like it did last year, it's looking to blow us away with the return of Crash to Naughty Dog and some other things that we don't know about.
I wish something like this could happen with Spyro the Dragon, but that's probably wishful thinking considering that Activision still has plans to use him for their Skylanders show that they haven't said too much about...
Why aren't you laughing?
I can believe we're going to see something with Crash this E3, but god damn I want to see a Spyro game that goes back to it's roots. I don't even hate Skylanders, but I really want a game that expands upon what the original trilogy did.
I'd like to see a mass rival of all of Sony's Mascot titles, Crash, Spyro, Jak and Daxter, Sly Cooper.
I also think it's really interesting that Elena mentions her Crash Bandicoot game having an "easy mode." There is no "easy mode" in Crash, but lately putting in "super guides" and "easy modes" has become popular with modern child-oriented platformers. Maybe this isn't merely a level remade for Uncharted 4, but a teaser of an upcoming HD rerelease that will have this so-called "easy mode" (Hopefully with physics truer to the original, though).
As for Spyro, there's technically nothing stopping Activison from making a standalone Spyro game AND a new Skylanders game. It's just that churning out as many Skylanders games as possible has proven to be far more profitable than taking a gamble with Spyro again. But hey, Disney Infinity just suffered a fatal heart attack, so maybe that's a sign that the "toys-to-life" genre is just a fad.
edited 12th May '16 5:13:06 AM by thebandragoness
I've got Frozen, Spectacular Spider-Man, Crash, Spyro, and Paper Mario fanfics.
Shawn Layden, who I think is involved in Sony's localization department, said this in a podcast:
A popular platformer whose title is two words and he isn't allowed to talk about it right now? Hmm...
I've got Frozen, Spectacular Spider-Man, Crash, Spyro, and Paper Mario fanfics.
Was this Yoshida involved in the original Crash games?
I'm not sure, but I do know that the Crash games saw lots of localization changes for their Japanese versions and were subsequently very popular over there.
They actually mentioned that five games were released for the system, confirming that they didn't forget about Crash Bash. I hope this leads somewhere...
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Thing is, they didn't lump all the PS 1 games. They mentioned that there were five games for the PS 1, and then they skipped over Crash Bash.
edited 30th May '16 3:16:35 AM by Numbuh1234
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Well, it's a common misconception that Crash Bash was made by Naughty Dog. I don't know if that's what's going on with this article, but maybe they just wanted to lump all the PS 1 games together for whatever reason. I dunno.
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A Sweedish retalier has listed a new Crash game.
Note: Jump and Run games are what Germans call platformers.
"We're all paper, we're all scissors, we're all fightin' with our mirrors, scared we'll never find somebody to love."
Snow Ghost
New Cras-...well, jump n' run is a more accurate...descriptive title. That's what they're always called.
YO. Rules of the Internet 45. Rule 45 is a lie.
edited 2nd Jun '16 1:41:20 PM by thebandragoness
I've got Frozen, Spectacular Spider-Man, Crash, Spyro, and Paper Mario fanfics.
Surprisingly unstable
Well, Crash already did a thing with Spyro, so why not?
Next thing we know there is a three way crossover.
If Spyro ever gets to do anything outside of Skylanders that is.
That or Crash and Sonic cameo in Skylanders, who the fuck knows at this point.
Yeah, but Crash and Spyro are (or, hopefully, WERE) owned by the same people.
Having other popular video game characters become Skylanders seems likely seeing as we've already got Donkey Kong and Bowser. In fact, I personally see the fact that they haven't made a Crash Bandicoot Skylander yet as evidence that Activision doesn't have the rights to him anymore.
I've got Frozen, Spectacular Spider-Man, Crash, Spyro, and Paper Mario fanfics.
Hey, err, remember when I said this?
Well, err, it looks like I may have spoken too soon...
Now before everyone freaks out, bear in mind that 1) this may be fake and 2) even if it's real, having Crash in Skylanders doesn't prevent Crash from having his own standalone game as well. Remember that Skylanders is very popular with kids these days and this could be a good way to drum up interest in a new Crash game.
Heck, this doesn't even technically mean Activision still has the rights since they've had Donkey Kong and Bowser Skylanders, too, but I think if this is real, it's most likely that Activision and Naughty Dog / Sony have struck some kind of Spider-Man Homecoming-esque deal.
EDIT: Also I just realized this "Crash Edition" is Playstation exclusive. Maybe it's like how Bowser and Donkey Kong were Nintendo exclusive, meaning Crash is being considered a Sony-only property again?
edited 9th Jun '16 7:42:02 AM by thebandragoness
I've got Frozen, Spectacular Spider-Man, Crash, Spyro, and Paper Mario fanfics.
Surprisingly unstable
Wow, and I was joking about the Crash in Skylanders thing.
First Sonic is in Lego Dimensions and now this?
Things are looking pretty strange, but not in a bad way, I guess?
It would seem that an article on the upcoming Skylanders game mentioned that there would be a new "guest character" like Bowser and Donkey Kong, but then the article was quickly edited to remove this mention. Of course, it could be another Nintendo character like Mario or Yoshi or Link or whoever, but it could also very well be a certain fuzzy marsupial...
There's also been mention of a mysterious "eleventh villain toy." See, the Skylanders games have ten different elements each toy can be, so naturally there are going to be ten of these new "villain" toys, one for each element. But then who is the eleventh villain?
Now, remember that Bowser and Donkey Kong weren't merely released as individual toys, but toys that came with their own vehicles. And remember that this supposed leak here isn't just a new standalone Crash Bandicoot toy, but a "Crash Edition" of the game. If it was nothing but the regular game packaged with a Crash Bandicoot toy, "Crash Edition" seems like it's kind of overselling itself. After all, the "Dark Editions" of Skylanders game typically come with several "Dark" versions of Skylanders toys, not just one. So maybe...
This "Crash Edition" of Skylanders will come with a Crash toy AND a Cortex toy, and maybe also Aku Aku as a magic item. Heck, maybe it even comes with an N. Sanity / Wumpa Island toy that unlocks a Crash Bandicoot-themed level. That'd definitely justify calling it a "Crash Edition" of Skylanders. And all of this would tie-in to the hypothetical upcoming Crash Bandicoot PS 4 game, of course.
...A girl can dream.
EDIT: Hoo boy, looks like that link to the "Crash Edition" preorder has been removed. If it was fake, why would they have removed it so fast?
edited 9th Jun '16 7:43:16 PM by thebandragoness
I've got Frozen, Spectacular Spider-Man, Crash, Spyro, and Paper Mario fanfics.
HAAAA!
Possibly more information here. Grain of salt, just in case.
According to the link, there is indeed a Spider-Man Homecoming deal over Crash Bandicoot between Sony and Activision, because Activision want something out of the license before it fully transfers to Sony. First is Crash Bandicoot in Skylanders. Second, Crash in Playstation All Stars 2 (PSAS 2 is a story in itself if you ask me, never mind Crash being in it!). Finally, a new Crash game developed by Naughty Dog exclusive to PS 4, at which point the franchise will be fully under Sony's control.
I must admit I'm torn. My head is saying all this is too good to be true, but my heart is saying that there must be something going on, and there's been plenty of evidence of this over the last year or so. I don't want to get my hopes up and watch as they're cruelly dashed, but it's getting harder and harder to keep them in check.
Cortex should take a 12-step plan off a 10-step pier
See, this is why you should never get too excited. People keep saying this but nobody believes it. Just do the good ol' "Wait and see".
edited 10th May '16 2:49:00 AM by YoKab