In a shocking turn of events, it seems that the 20th Anniversary Ape Escape Twitter account wasn’t building up to a new game reveal. As a matter of fact, the Twitter account has abruptly shut down after posting some rather heartbreaking messages that sound a cancelation of an upcoming project.

As spotted by Press Start, the Japanese Twitter account created to celebrate the 20th Anniversary of Sony’s once-proud series has closed down after running for roughly a full year. While not officially endorsed by Sony Computer Entertainment Japan, it was still a source for information about what seemed to be an upcoming remake or sequel.

The latest message from the account makes it sound as if something was in the cards before getting shuffled back into obscurity. “There are things I could and couldn’t do in the last year, but I have some regrets,” notes a post with a picture of an ape running into the jungle. I guess the apes have escaped and there’s nothing we can do about it.

A lot of this speculation could have been misplaced. Just because an account was created for Ape Escape doesn’t mean Sony was ever interested in resurrecting the series. Some of the messages over the last year kind of point to it just being a celebratory thing more than a source of news. Still, it hurts to see this happen.

Ape Escape was a hugely innovative game for the PS1 back in 1999. Before dual-analog controllers became the norm, Sony created a title that made specific usage of this second joystick. It could have simply been a marketing gimmick to sell new controllers, but it doesn’t hurt that the game attached was excellent.

The series would rise and fall in popularity over the years, but fans of it have remained invested. It was big enough at one point to feature as a mini-game in Metal Gear Solid 3. If that isn’t enough of a reason to bring the game back from the brink of death, I’m not sure what else can be done.

Here’s hoping that Sony has something up its sleeve for the PS5.

Source: Press Start, Twitter

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