Ape Escape revival in the works at Evening Star, report says
Those monkeys might be on the loose again. A revival of the PlayStation franchise Ape Escape is in development at Evening Star, video game outlet VGC reported on 7 October 2026, citing sources.
Evening Star is the developer behind Penny's Big Breakaway. The studio was formed by members of the development team behind Sonic Mania. It works as an indie developer, a small team operating outside the big publishers, which Push Square also noted when it picked up the rumour on 6 October 2026.
The claim first surfaced on a podcast. Journalist Jeff Gerstmann said on The Jeff Gerstmann Show that Evening Star was working on Ape Escape. VGC said its own sources matched that account, giving the story two legs to stand on.
The project points to a wider approach at Sony. VGC reported, citing multiple sources, that the company is looking to revive dormant PlayStation franchises, older names that have sat unused, by licensing them to smaller third-party studios. Licensing in this case means Sony keeps ownership of the series while an outside studio makes the new game. A third-party studio simply means a developer that sits outside the platform owner.
There is already a recent example of that model. Everybody's Golf: Hot Shots, released in 2025, was a Sony-owned golf series licensed to Bandai Namco for a new entry. That deal shows how the arrangement works in practice, with a familiar PlayStation name returning through outside hands.
Do not expect it soon. Gerstmann said the Ape Escape game was not close to release. It was just getting underway after being greenlit — given the formal go-ahead to start work — when he first heard about it.
What makes this stand out is the pairing. Sony would be trusting an older franchise to a small outside team, rather than building it in-house. For players, that can mean a familiar name returning with a different creative touch.
Much is still unconfirmed. The reports give no release date, no platforms and no detail on how the new game will play. Until then, it stays labelled as reported, not announced, with any confirmation still to come from Sony or Evening Star themselves.
