Ever since Xbox's acquisition of Activision Blizzard went through in late 2023, we've been patiently waiting to see what Microsoft might do with Crash Bandicoot - and up until now, there's been no sign of a return for the N. Sane marsupial.
That said, developer Beenox has caused a fuss this week by uploading and then removing a new banner on social media that contains a fresh piece of artwork for Crash Bandicoot in a racing car. The artwork uses the Crash Bandicoot 4 model of the character, which is notable because 2019's Crash Team Racing Nitro-Fueled came out well before Crash 4 ever existed. In other words, this has to be some kind of new artwork from the Nitro-Fueled developer.
As mentioned, it's since been removed, but here's a look at it on the Crash Bandicoot Reddit page:
This could obviously hint at multiple things. We're hoping for brand-new game of course, but there's also a chance it's related to a current-gen upgrade for Nitro-Fueled that might include new characters and karts. Others have suggested that it's perhaps just marketing material that doesn't mean anything at all.
Let's hope we get something exciting out of this, as Xbox surely wants to capitalise on the Crash Bandicoot brand sooner rather than later, and a new racing game or fresh update to Nitro-Fueled could end up proving really popular on Game Pass and beyond.
We'll obviously keep an eye on the situation and let you know if anything happens with this, and here's hoping Spyro hasn't been forgotten about either - the Spyro Reignited Trilogy was so good, and yet he hasn't returned since! Hopefully the rumours about Toys for Bob making a new Spyro game are true...