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A Jak and Daxter remake was at one point pitched to Sony but never got the green light, and now, years later, a small snippet from the project has seen the light of day.
Animator Travis Howe posted to LinkedIn to share that "a long while back, a team was assembled to pitch a remaster of Jak and Daxter," and he was asked to animate a shot-for-shot recreation of one of the platformer's cutscenes "to show what this updated version would look like."
Travis Howe (Animator @ Sanzaru Games 2018-26) - "A while back, a team was assembled to pitch a remaster of Jak & Daxter. I was asked to animate an IGC shot-for-shot, to show what this updated version would look like."- not commissioned by Sony- a fan pitch to gain permission pic.twitter.com/64TRzPahcuMarch 25, 2026
The clip above shows the same early Jak and Daxter cutscene in the 2001 original, side-by-side with the studio's updated, high-definition pitch that looks absolutely pitch perfect.
"To be abundantly clear: this was NOT commissioned by Sony, nor did they have any involvement in our proposal -- this was essentially a fan pitch to try and gain their permission," Howe explains. "Although the remaster wasn't to be, I'm really proud of how it came together!"
Howe doesn't exactly name which studio developed and presented the remake's pitch, but he does shout out developer Tyler Bronis, who he also worked with at Sanzaru Games, the company that's been involved with several other PlayStation mascots from the same era.
Most notably, Sanzaru Games made Sly Cooper: Thieves in Time, ported Secret Agent Clank to the PS2, and worked on both Sonic Boom games for the 3DS - so the company definitely had experience when it came to mascot platformers and had a working relationship with Sony, at least once upon a time.
Jak and Daxter itself hasn't shown signs of life for well over a decade. A shame since Naughty Dog's Crash Bandicoot successor was easily one of the PS2's best action-platformers and, heck, if something as niche as Klonoa can make a comeback, why not Jak?
