Sly Cooper 5

Release: ​Unknown
​Developer: Unknown 
Platform: PlayStation 4?
​
Summary: Will it happen? That's the question everyone's been asking, despite a depressing lack of answers. If you've been following my posts on the News page, there were a string of leaks back in 2013 supporting the development of a fifth game. However, there has been no official news since. After significant research, I have developed some conspiracy theories regarding the game, along with other fans around the Internet. Here you can find a compendium of leaks and conspiracy theories in the hopes that one day Sly Cooper 5 may see the light of day. If you have any information, please email me at [email protected]

​Article last updated: 5/17/2017

Developer: Sucker Punch Productions or Sanzaru Games?

Sucker Punch Productions intended Sly 3: Honor Among Thieves to be the last Sly Cooper game. It concluded without cliff hangers and wrapped up with the gang going their separate ways. Sucker Punch parted ways with Sly Cooper to start developing a new series for the PlayStation 3 and, later, PlayStation 4: inFamous. inFamous sported similar gameplay to that seen in the Sly Cooper series, and Easter eggs spotted throughout the games hinted that the company would one day return to our favorite devious, thievious raccoon. 

​After years of waiting for a new game, it was announced that The Sly Collection would be released in 2010 containing remastered versions of the original trio of games for the PlayStation 3. While Sucker Punch's logo would be in the opening credits sequence, Sanzaru Games was the studio behind the entire project. This allowed them to get a foot in the door in the world of Sly Cooper, and inspired them to ask Sony for permission to develop a logo awaiting followup game for Sly 3. As they say, the rest is history, and the fourth Sly Cooper game, Sly Cooper: Thieves in Time, hit the shelves in 2014. 

Sanzaru clearly intended on developing a fifth Sly Cooper game as they ended Thieves in Time on a cliffhanger. However, they have stated that Sony has been preventing them from working on it. While Sly 4 was successful, it didn't do as well as expected, and wasn't a smash hit like the original three games. Even so, wouldn't Sony (the company that owns Sly Cooper) make more money off of a Sly 5 than they would if another game isn't produced? I don't really believe that Sony is at fault, I think that Sanzaru simply moved on. Sanzaru has historically taken a famous series, developed one game, and simply moved on. They've done it with Ratchet & Clank, Tron, Sonic, God of War, and now Sly Cooper. I'm not criticizing them, I loved Sly 4, after all! I'm simply stating that it is unlikely we will see Sly 5 come out of their studio. 

So is all hope lost? Not exactly. Sucker Punch has enjoyed quite a bit of success with inFamous, but the last inFamous game, inFamous: Second Son, was released back in 2014. Recently, a string of articles hit the internet citing a reliable source that Sucker Punch will be announcing a new game at the E3 2017 gaming expo (June 13-15). The studio has obviously been working on something, but what could it be? Several months ago, there were rumors around the internet that Sucker Punch could be working on a Spider Man game. but I highly doubt it as they have never developed a game using someone else's intellectual property. As one rumor suggests, they might come up with a new series. Entirely possible. But I think it's equally possible that it'll be Sly 5.

Most of my evidence comes from the contents of Sucker Punch's Twitter page. Over the past few years, they've been posting quite a few images and other posts referencing Sly Cooper. I already wrote a lot about all of these in some news articles, which I''ll link to here:

Could Sly Cooper 5 be on the way? - 5/7/2017
Could Sucker Punch be Hinting at a New Sly Cooper Game? Also: Sly Cooper Movie news... - 5/7/2016

Sony

As many fans were happy to learn, an official Sly Cooper plush recently hit the PlayStation Gear store. The item is currently only for pre-order, and is expected to ship on May 31st, just two weeks before E3 2017 when Sucker Punch is expected to announce their new game. Sony seems to have a couple of plushes on sale (one is a... a brick? Really its just a brick?), but I believe they are mostly all characters from active franchises. That would make sense as active franchises = lots of money, and inactive franchises = less money. This could mean two things: Sony plans on increased fan hype (and money) surrounding the announcement of Sly Cooper 5 at E3, or, as some rumors suggest, the fan hype resulting from a new announcement regarding the Sly Cooper Movie at E3 this year. One thing is for sure: E3 is going to be HUGE.

On December 2nd, 2016, Sucker Punch Tweeted out a picture of a cake sporting the Sly Cooper logo with the caption "Amazing fruit cake created by a fellow Sony colleague visiting the studio today. It was as delicious as it looks." The cake itself wouldn't normally be of interest, but the fact that it was baked by a Sony employee visiting the studio is grounds for a double-take. Sure, the Sly logo is more iconic, but that cake could have just as easily exhibited the inFamous logo (which has likely made more money for Sony at this point anyway). At the least, a visit from Sony means that the studio is working on a game (duh). Since Sony bought the rights to Sly Cooper, there would certainly be a significant amount of oversight during the development of a fifth Sly Cooper installment.

Master of Thieves

Back in 2013, the first image seen in the gallery below was leaked by a programmer on Tumblr that was purported as being a reliable source. It appears to be a cellphone camera photo of a computer monitor. The logo looks a lot like the Sly 4 logo that was seen at the end of the Sly 4 teaser trailer video in The Sly Collection (second image in the gallery below). At first glance, it looks photoshopped; the "5" doesn't line up well with "Sly" and the font at the bottom looks different from anything seen in previous logos. In the Sly 4 teaser trailer, there is a brief moment where the question mark cane doesn't appear, making it easy to add the "Master of Thieves" text. The giant "4" is easy enough to remove if you know how to use Photoshop. Also, in the Sly 4 teaser, the "4" logo strangely doesn't have a drop shadow, but the "5" in the Master of Thieves logo does. This image also returns to the naming convention of placing the game's number in the title like Sly 2 and Sly 3, which was abandoned with Sly Cooper: Thieves in Time. Also, why does the logo in general just look so much different from past final logos? However, the name "Master of Thieves" Does sound far more credible than "Thieves Be Forever" as the first leak suggested.

A few weeks later, another photo surfaced, this time of a supposed promotional poster for Sly 5. I can't recall who originally leaked it, but it made headlines on Facebook when it happened. This poster sported the same Sly 5: Master of Thieves logo, along with two canes that resemble the ones belonging to Slytunkhamen. It is worth noting that Sly can be found stranded in Ancient Egypt at the end of Sly Cooper: Thieves in Time. The canes are rendered in a different art style from anything seen in the Sly Cooper series in the past. Personally, I am not entirely convinced. If a fifth game was in development, I'm not sure why they'd be wasting time on teaser logos. Also, given the time they were released (2013), it wouldn't make sense for the series to jump to the PS4 yet (as suggested by both images) since Sly Cooper: Thieves in Time was just released for the PS3. I think its an elaborate hoax, but I could be wrong. I hope I'm wrong. No news regarding Master of Thieves has surfaced since 2013.

Thieves Be Forever

Back in 2013, a game called Sly Cooper: Thieves Be Forever was listed on Amazon France. The item was quickly removed and no official statement was ever released. "Thieves Be Forever" is not proper English, leading one to believe that this is likely a hoax. However, since it appeared on Amazon's website targeted towards France, it could be a bad translation. Nothing further has been leaked regarding Thieves Be Forever.