Astro Bot features a Crash Bandicoot cameo, even though it's owned by Xbox

As everyone knows, Crash Bandicoot was exclusive to PlayStation for many years under series creator Naughty Dog. The early history of PlayStation and the early history of Crash Bandicoot are closely intertwined, making the platform game a historic part of the PlayStation legacy.

It seems Crash Bandicoot's contribution to PlayStation has been recognized, as Crash is set to make a cameo appearance in Astro Bot, an upcoming adventure game based on PlayStation's cute mascot (thanks, VGC), revealed in a PlayStation Blog interview with Team Asobi's Nicolas Doucet.

Everyone loves Crash

Interestingly, Crash Bandicoot is technically a first-party Xbox character, as the intellectual property rights to Crash Bandicoot are now owned by Activision, which in turn owns Xbox. This isn't the first time Crash has been loaned to PlayStation for a cameo, as he also appears in Uncharted 4: A Thief's End.

Crash didn't quite fit the Astro Bot design, so Team Asobi had to compromise and make his head a mask for a bot. “But with all of these characters, the eyes are of the utmost importance,” explained Doucet. “Sometimes LED eyes just didn't work for certain characters because the original design was too reliant on the pupils being a certain size or color, for example. So for more cartoony VIPs like Crash Bandicoot or Ape Escape, the bots wear a mask to overcome this problem.”

The future of the Crash series is uncertain following the release of Crash Team Rumble last year. A recent report suggested that Crash Bandicoot 5 was previously in development at Toys for Bob, but was canceled by Activision in favor of live service titles (thanks, Eurogamer). After becoming independent from Activision, Toys for Bob is rumored to be working on a Spyro game. Astro Bot is coming to PlayStation 5 on September 6.