darkSpyro

So Toys For Bob recently posted a seemingly normal tweet showing off their staff working happily in the office. However, fans spotted some familiar faces in the background on one of their concept art board.



These are various Crash Bandicoot villains drawn in a very similar style to the concept art from Reignited Trilogy. They feature somewhat different designs for the characters compared to how they look in current Crash games.

The tweet was deleted soon after and replaced with a similar one with this part of the image cropped out of view.

This is very strange since you would think TFB would continue work on Spyro considering how they laid a solid foundation with Reignited Trilogy.

This leads to some interesting theories for what could be next for TFB and Spyro (the following is pure speculation on my part):

TFB are working on a Crash Bandicoot game, Spyro is sent to a new developer: This would be a strange move, but not out of the realm of possibility. TFB actually handled the Nintendo Switch port of N. Sane Trilogy, so they do have some experience with the Crash IP. Activision is also known for letting two different developers handle their AAA franchises, each on a bi-yearly schedule. It would strike me as odd though, as Crash already has Vicarious Visions and Beenox sharing that franchise so far. As for who could handle Spyro, Sanzaru Games seems the obvious pick as they were the primary developers for Spyro 3 in the Reignited Trilogy. But Sanzaru Games are not a studio owned by Activision, so this may not be likely. It's also possible Vicarious Visions could make a Spyro game this time.

TFB are working on Crash related DLC for Reignited Trilogy: Personally I think this is extremely unlikely as they have quite a few characters drawn up here and if they were gonna announce DLC for Reignited, it would have happened already in order to drum up even more hype for the upcoming ports of Reignited Trilogy, especially if said DLC was Crash related.

The next Spyro game will feature Crash content: IMO this is the most likely scenario. It dodges the oddities present in the first two theories, and also feeds into another potential theory regarding the next Spyro game. There's been a distinct pattern of "whatever happens to Crash, happens to Spyro" in recent years. The most recent thing that happened to Crash is the release of Crash Team Racing: Nitro-Fueled, a multiplayer-centric game that also seeks to reintroduce characters, locations, and various other elements from the post Naughty Dog Crash games.

While I don't necessarily think the next Spyro game will be a multiplayer spin-off, I do think the idea of reintroducing elements from the post Insomniac Spyro games makes a lot of sense since not only do those games have their fans, but make for an easy way to flesh out the cast and universe of Spyro going forward. To that end, they may also decide to introduce Crash characters as guests in the next Spyro game, similar to how CTR:NF is soon to introduce some Soyro characters and content in September. IMO this just makes the most sense for the series going forward, especially since Crash is doing it and it has proven to be a successful approach following the remakes of the two trilogies.

I don't think having a mainline game with as a Crash and Spyro crossover so soon is a good idea tbh. I think it's unlikely anyway, they should find their own feet more first. (racing games are different, everyone has a broad range of characters).

remake of Spyro Orange/Crash Purple for console