Ape Escape reboot possibly in development at Evening Star

• The report names Evening Star as the external studio behind the project.
• The latest Ape Escape release mentioned in the report is PlayStation Move Ape Escape from 2010.

What happened

IGN wrote, based on comments from Jeff Gerstmann and sources at VGC, that Sony is said to be making a new Ape Escape game. The same report names Evening Star as the studio working on the project, but Sony has not confirmed it. This is therefore a rumor, not an official reveal from Sony Interactive Entertainment or from Evening Star itself.

According to the report, Gerstmann said he had heard the game was being made by an external developer. Evening Star is linked to the project, but that information also remains unconfirmed for now. The reporting does not mention a platform, release date, or any concrete gameplay details. So the only thing that remains is that, according to the rumors, a new project exists and that the studio behind Penny’s Big Breakaway and Sonic Mania is involved.

The report fits into a broader wave of rumors about Sony and older PlayStation franchises. It suggests the company may be open to third parties reviving dormant series, but that too has not been officially confirmed. In the wider context around this topic, other PlayStation brands such as Killzone and Sly Cooper are also mentioned, but those broader claims remain speculative until Sony says otherwise.

Background

Ape Escape is a PlayStation franchise that has gone years without a new mainline release. The series became popular on the original PlayStation and later received Ape Escape 3 on PS2 and PlayStation Move Ape Escape on PS3 in 2010. In the IGN report, Ape Escape 3 is explicitly named as the last mainline game, while PlayStation Move Ape Escape is cited as the most recent release in the series. That leaves a clear gap between the last main game and the last release mentioned in the report.

Evening Star is an independent studio founded in 2018. The studio is based in Los Angeles and also has operations in London and Melbourne. Evening Star previously released Penny’s Big Breakaway and contributed to Sonic Mania, but it has not announced any Ape Escape project itself. The studio says on its own website that the team was founded in late 2018, which fits its recent reputation as an external partner for new projects.

The rumors around Ape Escape are being amplified by the broader discussion about Sony’s older IP. External reporting has named several PlayStation franchises as possible candidates for a comeback through third parties. That includes not only Ape Escape, but also other dormant series that have not seen a new mainline release in a long time. Still, it is important to separate that broader trend from the specific Ape Escape claim, because Sony has not issued a public statement confirming any revival strategy.

The YouTube context from The Jeff Gerstmann Show lines up with the IGN report, but it does not provide any additional official confirmation. The description does say that a new Ape Escape game is reportedly in development and that Evening Star previously made Penny’s Big Breakaway, but that remains context rather than a formal announcement. So the core of the story is still that multiple sources and comments point to the same project, without Sony or Evening Star confirming it publicly.

Sources

• IGN: report on a possible new Ape Escape game and the reported involvement of Evening Star.
• VGC: source cited in the IGN report.
• The Jeff Gerstmann Show: context around the rumors, without official confirmation from Sony.
• Evening Star: studio information via the official website.