But that’s okay - that’s the precise reason why I started the Sly Cooper Fan Network in the first place. There were only vague rumors of a possible upcoming game, news was scarce, most had given up hope, and almost all of the fan sites were abandoned. It has always been my goal to make sure that the Fan Network would never fall victim to the same fate. Things are of course far more hopeful than they were in 2011 and I suspect we’ll see some exciting things emerge from the world of Sly Cooper in the coming year, whether it be in the form of game or animated series announcements. I don’t have any solid plans yet, but after I graduate in May you should start to see things slowly kick up a notch around here. Thank you all for being so patient and continuing your support of the Sly Cooper Fan Network - it’s been a wild ride and I don’t intend on letting it stop any time soon. ​

Until then,
Tyler Frisbee
TylerFrisbee.net

Since the link SlyCooper.com only redirected to a sub-domain of Sony's Playstation website, the site going offline does not mean that they failed to renew the web address; it most likely means that Sony intentionally unpublished the Sly Cooper website. Could this mean that they are abandoning Sly Cooper? Could this mean that they took the website down to perform updates and renovations on it to promote an upcoming game? Could this simply mean nothing at all? It is entirely possible that the site was taken down to free up server space. There wasn't much content on the official website, and it hadn't been updated since 2014 anyway. It does seem strange that Sucker Punch still own the website address SlyCooper.com. It's possible that they've always retained ownership since 2002. However, I remember looking up the website on WhoIs in the past and I thought I remembered seeing it under different ownership... but I have a terrible memory and could be mistaken. (SEE EDIT BELOW). Of course Sucker Punch announced just last week that they have been busy working on a new game, Ghost of Tsushima, which is a total departure from the Sly Cooper and inFamous series. This all probably means nothing, just figured it was worth reporting to see what you guys thought - let us know in the comments!

EDIT (3:45 pm EST): Upon digging deeper, I've discovered some other curious information. Both SlyCooper.com and SuckerPunch.com are registered to the same person: Michael Becker. According to his LinkedIn profile, Michael Becker has only been working as an IT Administrator at Sucker Punch since February 2015. So there HAVE been changes to the ownership/registration status of the website since Thieves in Time was released (though this could simply be because the domain was renewed - I dunno). I do wonder why Sucker Punch are the ones renewing and retaining ownership of the Sly Cooper domain, and not Sony (who, correct me if I'm wrong, presumably holds the IP for the Sly Cooper Series?). Of course any company wouldn't want an important domain - even for a retired product - to fall into somebody else's hands. It just confuses me as to why Sony isn't handling it since Sucker Punch is done with the series. This also seems weird because, once the animated series is released, won't the companies involved with that venture want to use SlyCooper.com for promotional purposes? I'll have to do more research to see who the website was registered to in the past, and if it ever changed hands from Sucker Punch Productions before this more recent update in registrant information.

However, an article written by The Japan Times that covered E3 2016 (an annual gaming expo) reported that "​Glen Egan, president and CEO of Sanzaru Games Inc., which provided a sports game for Oculus, predicted virtual reality will establish itself as a gaming mainstay." This all got me thinking; what if Sanzaru is practicing what it takes to develop a virtual reality game because it plans on introducing the technology into Sly Cooper? Sony, of course, attended E3 that year, and took the opportunity to debut their answer to virtual reality gaming: PlayStation VR. Since Sanzaru probably still has a contract with Sony, and the company seems to be interested in Virtual Reality, could they be building the next Sly game around it? I know that sounds far fetched, but it isn't the first time that a Sly Cooper game has tried to implement similar new technologies. When Sly 3: Honor Among Thieves was introduced, some of the levels could be played in 3D with the use of included 3D glasses. With the release of Sly Cooper: Thieves in Time, Sanzaru pushed the PS Vita tie-in and the concept of augmented reality. What are your thoughts on a Virtual Reality Sly Cooper 5? Unrealistic? Awful? Awesome? Am I nuts? Let me know in the comments, and if you found this article interesting, please like and Tweet as it really helps us out!