During an interview, recalling the making of Jak and Daxter series, developer Naughty Dog revealed that he could not continue to do Crash Bandicoot games beyond Crash Team Racing because his relationship with the then owner of IP, Universal Interactive, had gone sour.
Speaking to GamesRadar, co-founder Jason Rubin revealed that, having realized that they could no longer work with Universal, several Naughty Dog developers began to work discreetly on a new game engine, which went on to form the basis of Jak and Daxter.
“Our relationship with Universal had reached a point where we could not continue to make Crash Bandicoot games, ”said Rubin. “Although we loved Crash Bandicoot and we loved working with Sony, it didn’t make any financial sense. Universal owned the IP, and there was hostility there that was just brutal. “
Naughty Dog’s relationship with Sony is old. The interview reveals that, in 1999, the studio brought home the first PlayStation 2 development kit to enter the United States. Apparently, co-founder Andy Gavin asked his team of quality control testers if they wanted a “48-hour all-expenses-paid trip to Japan with a lot of jetlag and at least a good meal”, the result of which was the studio getting its hands on “the next generation PlayStation that he has been looking forward to for years”.
Crash Bandicoot was originally produced by Universal Interactive, which later became Vivendi Games. After a merger in 2007, Activision owns the IP. Naughty Dog developed the series between 1996 and 1999. Recent releases were developed by Vicarious Visions and Toys for Bob.
[Source: GamesRadar]