I’m not making this up, right? Sly Cooper is a real thing, yeah? The platforming raccoon had three games developed by Sucker Punch in the ‘00s, as well as a fourth made by Sanzaru Games in 2013. I’m almost positive that it was a real thing, but considering nothing has happened since then bar some cameo appearances and Easter eggs, I’m starting to doubt myself. A Sly Cooper movie is apparently in production too, and the band played Believe It If You Like. Recently, Sly Cooper was added to Fortnite. Here’s a wild thought, though – maybe someone should add him to his own game. Sly 4 did end on a cliffhanger, after all.
Don’t get too excited about Sly Cooper in Fortnite, by the way. He’s not a legit addition the way Aloy in Genshin Impact is somehow a real thing. He’s not even a rumour, like the Ariana Grande concert. Someone, entirely independent of Epic, Sony, Sucker Punch, and Sanzaru, created the prologue level of the first game, Sly Cooper and the Thievius Racoonus, in Fortnite’s map maker. Epic recently sent out a list of potential characters for the game’s crossovers in a survey, which included everyone from Cardi B, to Charli and Dixie D’Amelio, to The Matrix, Family Guy, Ted Lasso, Scream, Pokemon, Ratchet, Lady Dimitrescu… you get the point. There were a lot of characters on the list, and from a variety of different mediums. Sly Cooper did not make the cut.
Related: How Long Until We Get A Fortnite Spin-Off?That’s to be expected – the mascot had his last game eight years ago, and even in his era, was outshined by Ratchet and Jak. He’s a cult classic, and while it’s clear many still hold a candle for him, candle holding doesn’t get you into Fortnite. But then again, I’m not asking him to be in Fortnite, I’m asking for him to have one more chance at a game of his own. It’s not even like he whiffed any of his other chances; while he didn’t sink his raccoon claws into pop culture the way other platforming heroes did, all four of Sly’s games were positively received without ever becoming legendary, iconic, unmissable experiences. The fact he lingers in the gaming aether, either through fan-made levels or references in other games, shows he still has a place in the medium. He hasn’t quite reached Sam Fisher levels, but he’s getting there.
The problem becomes exactly who would make this game. The whole reason Sly 4 was made by Sanzaru was because Sucker Punch had branched out into the much bigger world of InFamous; two InFamous games later, Sucker Punch's ambition grew even larger, resulting in Ghost of Tsushima. It's unlikely the studio would revert back to Sly Cooper now, when Jin Sakai has the momentum. You can dress Jin up as Sly in the game, but that’s as far as Sucker Punch will go right now. Insomniac might have managed to produce Spider-Man, Spider-Man: Miles Morales, and Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart in the space of three years – and with no crunch on Ratchet, at least – but most studios are not Insomniac.
Sanzaru then? It's always been more of an oddjob studio, picking up various pieces of established series rather than setting the world alight itself. Sly 4 is probably its most notable release, and that came eight years ago – since then it ported God of War to PS Vita, pitched in on the Spyro trilogy, and worked on two Sonic the Hedgehog 3DS games. It's all academic anyway; Sanzaru was bought out by Facebook in 2018 to work on Oculus games – 2019's Asgard's Wrath came from Sanzaru, and is the biggest challenger to Sly 4 at the top of the studio's list of accomplishments.
Sony could – and if we're ever to see another Sly Cooper, likely would – give the IP to a different studio, but then it becomes a question of 'who'? Ratchet & Clank has been a huge success for Sony, but the majority of PlayStation's big guns have been realistic, gritty, third person action adventure titles in linear open worlds with violent gameplay and emotional storytelling. The Last of Us, Uncharted, God of War, Horizon, Days Gone, and Sucker Punch's own Ghost of Tsushima all fit this mould. Sly Cooper would be a break from the norm, and a bigger risk than Ratchet & Clank offers. Still, it feels like the raccoon so desperately deserves it. Unfortunately, as a string of forgotten video game heroes can tell you, you don't always get what you deserve.
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