With seminal 2000s platformers like Ratchet and Clank, Spyro, and Psychonauts all getting blockbuster reboots for the modern era, many have questioned whether Naughty Dog's iconic Jak and Daxter series would follow suit. Rumors and speculation swirl around the game each and every year, however, the studio has officially confirmed that a fourth iteration of the series isn't in development.
"We’ve had a couple of Twitter campaigns where people have been tweeting us every single day [saying] ‘I want a new Jak & Daxter," claims Naughty Dog President Evan Wells during the Academy of Interactive Arts & Science’s latest episode of the Game Maker’s Notebook (later transcribed by VGC). "I hate to break it to them, [but] we do not have Jak & Daxter here in development right now."
It's unfortunate news for the legions of fans clamoring for a potential new entry in the iconic platformer series, many of whom have clung to the hope that Naughty Dog might return to the franchise. Interestingly, Wells did state that the team wishes they were developing a new adventure set in the game's universe, especially after seeing Insomniac's recent work on Ratchet and Clank. According to the Naughty Dog president, "there’s still a lot of love for Jak & Daxter in the studio," which is unsurprising considering it was one of the developer's first major hits.
It's not hard to see why Ratchet and Clank's recent success would stir up the studio's nostalgia for Jak and Daxter, with Insomniac bringing its beloved series back with a fresh coat of paint while preserving everything that made it so iconic. Launching alongside an animated tie-in movie, the team delivered a widely-revered remake of Ratchet and Clank's first entry back in 2016, while it's currently slated to drop a sequel titled Ratchet and Clank: Rift Apart later this year.
The first Jak and Daxter launched around the same time as Insomniac's intergalactic platformer, focusing on the titular two characters embarking on an epic quest to defeat the forces of evil. The first game eventually spawned several sequels, including Jak and Daxter 2, Jak and Daxter 3, Jak X: Combat Racing, Jak and Daxter: The Lost Frontier, and PSP spin-off, Daxter.
Naughty Dog has admitted that the team considered developing a fourth Jak and Daxter game in the past, revealing it would've been a darker and more realistic interpretation of the series. Ultimately, the studio decided to drop the project due to it not being the sequel players would have wanted. Instead, it moved onto developing The Last of Us, which has arguably been Naughty Dog's most successful project to date.
Source: Game Maker's Notebook, VGC