Sony bringing back PS1 games including WipEout and Ape Escape claim rumours

As thoughts turn to Sony’s summer State of Play, rumours are growing that they’re look to do more with their back catalogue, including bringing back inFamous.

We’re fast approaching the summer showcase season and this far out that only means one thing: lots of unconfirmed rumours and wild speculation that has no chance of ever coming true. Pre-Covid, everything was organised around E3 but even with that dead, Microsoft, Sony, and Nintendo still run their events at more or less the same time as they always did.

Summer Game Fest is very different from E3 but it’s the nearest thing we’ll ever likely to get and this year takes place on Friday, June 5. The Xbox showcase is confirmed for Sunday, June 7 and while PlayStation hasn’t said anything yet it’s likely to be the last week of May.

Nintendo usually has their biggest Nintendo Direct of the year in the middle of June, but they’ve been extra unpredictable lately, so we wouldn’t count on that. It’s possible Sony could also change their usual approach, but at the moment the most convincing rumours sound like good news for retro fans.

The idea that Sony is looking to revive a number of unspecified retro franchises has been floating around for a while now, with Ape Escape one of the few titles to be mentioned by name.

Sony has never even hinted at such a thing but in the latest VGC podcast Jordan Middler talked about bringing back Ape Escape and mentioned ‘Chris’ [likely Chis Scullion] had been talking about WipEout.

Both games started on the PS1 but struggled to achieve mainstream success after that. Sony did try again with remasters for WipeEout but the problem with that franchise is that while it was very popular in Europe it has always been largely ignored in the US and Japan.

It seems it’s not just PS1 games that Sony is considering bring back though, with multiple reports in the last few weeks suggesting a new remaster or other release for superhero franchise inFamous, which started out on the PlayStation 3.

Middler also made reference to this and suggested that original developer Sucker Punch is not involved in the work, as they’ve since found greater success with the Ghost Of Tsushima franchise.

Since it’s not entirely clear how much of what was discussed was wishful thinking and how much insider information, it would still be safest to assume that all of it is just speculation.

However, at the same time as the internet started to take the suggestions more seriously, NateTheHate chimed in with a comment on X, in which he said: ‘There is truth to Sony exploring and considering reviving some of their older, unused IPs.’

He gave Sly Cooper, Resistance, Legend Of Dragoon, MotorStorm, Ape Escape, and inFamous as his personal preferences to bring back, but did not suggest he had any knowledge of what games in particular Sony was looking at. Although he did say that he considered Uncharted and Bloodborne to be too new to count.

NatheTheHate is one of the most consistently accurate leakers in the industry at the moment, although he’s careful enough in his language to say that Sony is only exploring the possibilities and has not necessarily committed to anything yet.

Whether they’d mention anything at their summer showcase is not something anyone has talked about yet, but it certainly doesn’t sound like anything is close to release.

However, it would be easy to imagine that Sony’s interest in these older franchises is because they’d be quicker to produce than normal, especially if they’re only remasters.

Sony has been criticised all generation for its limited number of new first party games, but a new range of retro-inspired remasters and low budget sequels would be the quickest route to addressing that problem.

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