Evidence is growing pointing towards the Crash Bandicoot N. Sane Trilogy coming to the Xbox One. The remaster of the original three Crash Bandicoot games has been a surprise hit for Activision, but the question regarding whether the collection would remain PlayStation exclusive like its predecessors has been pervasive. New information released perhaps incidentally by a Crash Bandicoot developer from Vicarious Visions may help answer that question.
Artist Kara Zisa of Vicarious Visions worked on the Crash Bandicoot N. Sane Trilogy's updated user interface. With the game now complete it's only natural that she publish some of her work to her portfolio. Yet within the assorted media showing in-game menus, slides showing an interface using Xbox controls were found. A Crash Bandicoot N. Sane Trilogy save screen, coincidentally showing a classic PlayStation memory card, profferrs an "A" select button and a "B" back button to players. Those are quite clearly not meant for the PlayStation 4.
All of Kara Zisa's work on a Crash Bandicoot N. Sane Trilogy version for Xbox One has since been stripped off the internet, but the veracity of such evidence cannot be denied. At the very least, Kara did concept work for a Crash Bandicoot game on Xbox One. There's always the possibility that business dealings have since made such a release impossible, but the more likely scenario is Crash will be coming to the platform after a period of timed exclusivity.
This isn't the first time news has leaked regarding a possible Crash Bandicoot N. Sane Trilogy port for Xbox One. Over a month ago, before the remaster's launch, a European retailer published a listing of the game for the Xbox platform. The listing included Xbox-branded box art, as well as an oddly specific release date of December 8. False listings tend to lack official box art and their release dates speculation tends be less specific, typically at the end of a month or end of the year. While retail listing are rarely trustworthy, they still serve as decent supportive evidence.
The real question to be asked is whether or not a Crash Bandicoot N. Sane Trilogy release for Xbox One makes sense. Third-party Activision developed and published the collection, so there are no problems regarding exclusivity there. And you might think that the original Crash games being published by Sony for PlayStation there'd be issues, but not so. It's a complicated history, but Activision acquired Crash through Vivendi in 2008. All that would prevent an Xbox One port is an exclusivity contract with Sony, but these days timed-exclusives are much more popular.
Crash Bandicoot N. Sane Trilogy is now available and is currently a PlayStation 4 exclusive. If the remaster is coming to Xbox One, which is entirely possible if not altogether likely, expect news later this year.
Source: Press Start