Crash Bandicoot 5 has reportedly been cancelled according to a Senior Concept Artist who worked on Crash Bandicoot 4: It’s About Time.
A screenshot from Crash Bandicoot 4: It’s About Time (2020), Toys for Bob
Nicholas Kole, who notes on his LinkedIn that he was a Senior Concept Artist for Crash Bandicoot 4, posted to X announcing that a game codenamed Project Dragon he had been working on was scrapped.
He wrote, “WELL. Our cancelled project of the last 3 years is officially, truly dead as of today (internal attempts to save it failed), and the embargo on the whole body of portfolio work has been lifted. RIP Project Dragon. Brace yourselves for the largest ever art bomb of work I loved.”
Nicholas Kole on X
In a subsequent post, he confirmed Project Dragon was an original IP and was not a Spyro game. He wrote, “Oh heck, I’m sorry folks- it’s not Spyro. I didn’t mean to give the fandom a heart attack. ‘Dragon’ is our code name for the totally new IP we were developing for over 3 years. But I’m pretty confident if you’ve ever liked anything I’ve done, you’d have *loved* this one.”
Nicholas Kole on X
He reiterated it was not Spyro in response to a user’s question, and then revealed that Crash Bandicoot 5 was also scrapped.
He stated, “It is not Spyro, but some day folks will hear about the Crash 5 that never was and it’s gonna break hearts.”
Nicholas Kole on X
In a follow-up, he clarified, “Yes, two totally separate cancelled projects at two different studios.”
Nicholas Kole on X
It’s not totally surprising that Crash Bandicoot 5 would be cancelled. Toys For Bob, the developer behind Crash Bandicoot 4: It’s About Time, announced earlier this month it would be going independent and splitting ways with its parent company Activision, who itself is owned by Microsoft.
The company’s Studios Heads Paul Yan and Avery Lodato announced at the end of February, “We’re thrilled to announce that Toys for Bob is spinning off as an independent development studio!”
While they announced they were going independent, they did note they would be “exploring a possible partnership between our new studio and Microsoft.”
Toys for Bob statement
This partnership was confirmed at the end of May with the company announcing on X, “We’re excited to announce that we’ll be partnering with Xbox to publish our next new game. We’re still very early in development, so you might not hear from us for a bit – but know that we’re working hard on an experience we’re so sooo inspired about! Can’t wait to share more.”
Toys for Bob on X
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As for what Project Dragon was, Kole detailed, “Project Dragon was a cosy sandbox survival crafting multiplayer rpg- a buildable world made of blocks inspired by minecraft filled with fantasy characters and quests inspired by breath of the wild, and I loved working on it dearly.”
Alright, let’s start things off ðŸ˜
Project Dragon was a cosy sandbox survival crafting multiplayer rpg- a buildable world made of blocks inspired by minecraft filled with fantasy characters and quests inspired by breath of the wild, and I loved working on it dearly https://t.co/KFMnuDnsWb pic.twitter.com/ZD0bckDpnH
— Nicholas Kole (@FromHappyRock) July 14, 2024
As noted by Kole the game was in development for 3 years and appeared to have significant development work done as he shared both animations and as well as theme music for a character called Oca.
WELL… pic.twitter.com/jSSAWzxNo2
— Nicholas Kole (@FromHappyRock) July 15, 2024
What do you make of Crash Bandicoot 5 reportedly being cancelled?
