Crash Bandicoot appears in PS5 exclusive Astro Bot despite Microsoft now owning Activision

September 5, 2024

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Crash Bandicoot, a character from Xbox subsidiary Activision Blizzard, will appear in the upcoming PlayStation 5 exclusive Astro Bot.

VGC spotted a reference to the beloved bandicoot in a PlayStation Blog post discussing character designs in Astro Bot, which confirmed that Crash would make a cameo appearance in the reference-heavy platformer. Astro features characters wearing costumes from games like God of War and Horizon, for example, and Crash Bandicoot is also on the list.

“With all of these characters, the eyes are of the utmost importance,” said Astro Bot director Nicolas Doucet. “Sometimes LED eyes just didn’t work for certain characters because the original design relies so much on pupils being a certain size or color, for example. So for more cartoony VIPs like Crash Bandicoot or from Ape Escape, the Bots wear a mask to overcome that problem.”

Official Astro Bot screenshots

Crash Bandicoot debuted as an original PlayStation game from Naughty Dog, the developer of The Last of Us and Uncharted. While those two franchises remain firmly in the PlayStation camp, Crash now finds itself on the other side of the console war.

The series came under Activision’s control in 2008 when the company merged with original producer Vivendi. When Microsoft acquired Activision Blizzard in 2023 for a staggering $68.7 billion, Crash Bandicoot officially became an Xbox franchise.

It’s clear that its roots still lie with PlayStation and that it is still associated with the brand, given the prominent role Crash Bandicoot played in PlayStation’s early days.

Since the launch of Crash Bandicoot 4 in 2020, the series has been quiet. Recently, a former developer broke hearts by talking about a fifth game that never got off the ground.

Ryan Dinsdale is a freelance reporter for IGN. He talks about The Witcher all day long.