Sucker Punch Productions hasn’t touched Sly Cooper in nearly 20 years. The last proper outing for the stealthy raccoon and his crew was Sly 3: Honor Among Thieves on PlayStation 2 back in 2005. If that had been the final curtain call, many fans—including me—would’ve been content to revisit the trilogy every few years on Vita and call it a day. But Sanzaru Games cracked the vault open again in 2013 with Sly Cooper: Thieves in Time, only to strand Sly in Ancient Egypt on a cruel cliffhanger. Plans for DLC to wrap up the story were axed, and then Sanzaru was scooped up by Meta in 2020. Since then? Silence.
Could Sucker Punch, now best known for Ghost of Tsushima, swoop in and finally save our furry thief from temporal purgatory? Not a chance. They’ve moved on.
The Studio’s Shrinking Interest
On Minnmax’s rapid-fire Q&A show, co-director Nate Fox was asked how much of the Bellevue studio would be excited to make a new Sly game. His answer? A mere 10 percent. That’s it. Understandably, interviewer Ben Hanson was stunned, but Fox was blunt: “It’s been a long time since Sly Cooper’s come out.”
He’s not wrong—it has been a long time. The franchise recently marked its 20th anniversary with merch drops, but in terms of actual games? Nothing. Just canceled projects, an abandoned animated series, and a cliffhanger that’s been dangling for over a decade.
Fans Left Holding the Bag
Look, I’m not asking for Sly Cooper 5 specifically. At this point, I’d take anything—a short comic to resolve the cliffhanger, a spin-off mini-game, even an animated short. Sony has had opportunities: a film greenlit then shelved, a show announced then disappeared, and plenty of anniversaries that came and went with no meaningful celebration. All I want is closure for my raccoon son.
Instead, Sly’s legacy survives only in cameos across other PlayStation titles. He popped up in Astro Bot and even Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart. Should I take that Rift Apart appearance as canon—Ratchet finally rescued him from time-travel hell? Maybe that’s all the closure Sony’s willing to give.
A Mascot Without a Home
Sly Cooper remains one of PlayStation’s most recognizable mascots from the PS2 era, yet he’s been left in limbo longer than almost any of his peers. Sony seems unwilling to invest in reviving the franchise, even when nostalgia-driven revivals are all the rage. Meanwhile, fans are stuck replaying old adventures and wondering if their favorite thief will ever pull off one last heist.
💡 Player Tip: If you’re craving that mix of stealth and style while Sly languishes, check out Ghost of Tsushima’s stealth segments—they’re the closest thing Sucker Punch is offering to scratching that Cooper itch anytime soon.
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