New reports have surfaced indicating that Sony plans to revive its classic PlayStation video game franchises, beginning with the iconic platformer Ape Escape, with a new game in the franchise reportedly being developed by third-party studio Evening Star.
The reveal was made during The Jeff Gerstmann Show podcast, with the claims corroborated by VGC’s sources as well. “I don’t think this game is close to being out or anything like that, but I guess it’s been almost a year since we started talking about Ape Escape,” Gerstmann said during the podcast. “Who is making it? That’s a good question… My understanding is that an external team has been working on that… Evening Star. I heard that they were working on it.”
Evening Star is an independent studio founded in 2018 by key members who developed the 2017 2D platform game Sonic Mania. The studio would go on to debut its first game in 2024, the 3D action-platformer Penny’s Big Breakaway, and it looks like it will now continue its platformer expertise with an Ape Escape revival, if the rumours are true.
Ape Escape was a series of 3D platformers during the PS1 and PS2 generations, and tasked players with catching apes with special gadgets. The franchise would receive three mainline games – the latest being 2005’s Ape Escape 3 for the PS2 – alongside multiple spin-offs and party games, although the franchise has made an appearance in other games, such as cameos in 2024’s Astro Bot and 2025’s Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater.
According to VGS’s sources, Sony’s plans don’t stop at Ape Escape either, with the studio looking to revive other classic franchises via licensing to third-party studios, something it has experimented with recently with 2025’s Everybody’s Golf: Hot Shots, which was licensed to Bandai Namco. There have also been rumours of a new Killzone game from Bulletstorm developer People Can Fly, which is set to be either a remaster or remake of the original 2004 shooter.
Kevin is a reformed PC Master Race gamer with a penchant for franchise “duds” like Darksiders III and Dead Space 3. He has made it his life-long mission to play every single major game release – lest his wallet dies trying.
Si Jia
