Hideo Kojima has added fuel to the fire of the rumors that there will be a new Ape Escape game, with the Death Stranding director sharing images of himself standing alongside the series’ characters. Some curious tweets emerged over the weekend, pointing to a new Ape Escape game being in the works. Now Kojima has furthered this speculation, taking to Twitter to share photos of him and the helmet-wearing simians.
On Sunday, Twitter account @piposaru20th posted an image of an Ape Escape ape peering from behind a tree, accompanied by the caption: “Twenty years from that. I’ve been running around for a long time, but I wonder if there are any guys out there to chase …?” Since then, the account has posted a bunch of new content related to Ape Escape‘s 20th anniversary, including new smartphone wallpapers and the announcement of a special pop-up shop in Tokyo. The account was followed by Sony Japan, making its teases more credible in the process.
Hideo Kojima, who is working closely with Sony as it serves as Death Stranding‘s publisher, then retweeted old images of him with Ape Escape‘s mascots:
ヒィィィィかんわいぃぃぃぃぃぃ😍😍😍 pic.twitter.com/0B12QdvlFV
— ぼなぺてぃ (@ifeelrave) June 24, 2019
While it’s unlikely that Kojima is in any way involved with a new Ape Escape project, it’s reasonable to suggest that the legendary developer would be privy to news of an upcoming game. Ape Escape has been a long-stagnant series, with it last appearing in 2010’s underwhelming rail shooter PlayStation Move Ape Escape.
Considering that the series introduced many PlayStation owners to analog controls, it has an important place in Sony’s history. With that being said, a new Ape Escape game has been requested for years now, with the last entry in the mainline series releasing way back in 2008.
While the first game launched in the US first on May 31, 1999, it officially released in Japan on June 24 of the same year. This would mean that it’s 20th anniversary technically takes place today, which could indicate that we’ll receive some more news sooner rather than later. Fingers crossed!
