Many popular titles and brands, like The Legend of Zelda, Halo, Resident Evil, and others, are commemorating important milestones this year, making 2021 one of the most significant years for video game anniversaries in recent years.
Crash Bandicoot is one such series, which this year celebrates its 25th anniversary, made even greater by the fact that it has been active since the release of Crash Bandicoot N. Sane Trilogy in 2017. While no game has been released to commemorate the 25th anniversary, many speculate that publisher Activision is planning to announce a new Crash game shortly.
Crash Bandicoot was released as an exclusive title for the PlayStation on September 9, 1996, and was conceived and developed by Naughty Dog. The developer followed up with two sequels and the racing spin-off Crash Team Racing, all of which were released over the next three years before the franchise was revoked by publisher Vivendi Games and passed to a number of different developers.
The Crash Bandicoot series was placed on hiatus when Activision bought Vivendi Games until 2017, when Vicarious Visions published Crash Bandicoot N. Sane Trilogy, a compilation of remakes of the original three games, resurrecting the franchise.
Since then, Activision had produced Crash Bandicoot games nearly every year, with the exception of 2018, when the publisher released Spyro Reignited Trilogy, a remake of the original three Spyro the Dragon titles.
Crash Team Racing: Nitro-Fueled was published in 2019 by Beenox, while Crash Bandicoot 4: It’s About Time was released in 2020 by Toys for Bob, the first original entry in the series in over a decade. Activision has been teasing the announcement of Wumpa League, a much-rumored multiplayer-focused Crash Bandicoot game, which may be unveiled as soon as tomorrow.
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Activision delivered a celebratory Crash Bandicoot 25th-anniversary care box with a wumpa fruit piñata to chosen influencers earlier this week, similar to the company’s rollouts before major Crash Spyro related announcements.
Following this, the official Crash Bandicoot Twitter account tweeted, “That feeling you get when you hear there’s a certain party right around the corner,” most likely referring to PlayStation’s upcoming showcase on September 9th, which also happens to be the 25th anniversary of Crash Bandicoot’s release.
When you combine this with the influencer packages, it’s virtually unavoidable that a Crash Bandicoot announcement is on the way; whether it’s the much-rumored Wumpa League or not remains to be seen. Activision’s restructuring of its studios around the Call of Duty brand earlier this year was thought to have suspended production on Wumpa League and a new Spyro game, with every team expected to be working on the franchise for the bulk of 2021.
