Jak and Daxter’s Biggest Strength is Also Holding Back its Future

Strange fascinations fascinate me.

Question: what do Jak and Daxter and David Bowie have in common?

If your answer was that both Jak and Bowie sport some cosmically magnificent hair or that each have a penchant for the extra-terrestrial, you would be correct. Another acceptable response would be to say that both are big exponents of – let’s all sing it together now – ch-ch-ch-ch-changes!

For Bowie, this meant a constant search for musical evolution. Like a restless space explorer leaping from planet to planet, he zig-zagged his way from being the king of glam rock to the British face of funk and R&B to the pioneer of central European electronic art pop. And all of that was just in the 1970s!

Naughty Dog took a similarly experimental approach to Jak and Daxter. Starting with a highly polished but fairly traditional 3D platformer, the series then veered into the GTA-inspired realm of grittier narratives and open-ended sandbox design, before concluding with a platformer/vehicular-combat hybrid reminiscent of an animated Mad Max. That’s not even mentioning the hard rock racing spin-off, the whimsical pest-controlling PSP midquel, or whatever the heck Jak and Daxter: The Lost Frontier was. And all of that was just in the 2000s!

Of course, while Bowie continued his storied career across five decades, Jak and Daxter has all but ceased to exist since 2009. It’s still an iconic PlayStation franchise and a crucial chapter in Naughty Dog’s history, but the continual neglect the series has received in the past sixteen years and counting is verging on the terminal. So what happened? How could a franchise that sold millions of games and which is now more accessible than ever appear to have no immediate future?

There are, naturally, several reasons for Jak and Daxter’s elongated hiatus. With Naughty Dog moving into uncharted territory post 2005, new developers haven’t been interested in picking up the J&D mantle, especially after High Impact Games’ mishandling with The Lost Frontier. And 3D platformers, as an entire genre, have been on a gradual two decade decline into obscurity – although there has been a slight resurgence in recent years. After all, if Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart and Astro Bot can succeed on modern PlayStation hardware, then why can’t a new Jak and Daxter?

There is, of course, another problem. Picture this: you are the head of a mid-large level development studio, and you have just received the green light from Sony to create the next Jak and Daxter game. Congratulations! You now have the responsibility of bringing this beloved series back to both its established fanbase and a new audience. The new game needs to resonate with as many people as possible while carrying forward the high quality that the series is known for.

So, what kind of Jak and Daxter game are you going to make?

Well, the series started with a colourful collectathon platformer, so perhaps that’s a good place to start for the reboot? Except, as good as The Precursor Legacy is, its gameplay and narrative style don’t really gel with everything that came afterwards. Okay, so maybe you should focus on a sandbox action-platformer in the mould of Jak 2 and 3? You could, but it’s tricky to pick up on a storyline that’s been dormant for years without alienating newcomers.

Or do you embrace the series’ spirit for transformation and develop something completely different, similar to what Naughty Dog briefly flirted with for a potential Jak 4? That would certainly be courageous. But you then risk having the entire J&D community turn on you for not making their kind of Jak game.

The issue with bringing Jak and Daxter back after so long is that there is no easy definition on what a Jak and Daxter game is supposed to be. Because to be a Jak and Daxter game could literally mean six different things. This is an amazing design philosophy when new games are regularly being released. But when there’s been a gap of sixteen years, this approach turns into a poison chalice. The series’ love of shaking things up means there is no straightforward return strategy for it to carve its place in the modern gaming market.

Which is a shame, because the risks Naughty Dog took on Jak and Daxter should be celebrated and replicated across the games publishing industry. Triple-A series often fall into the trap of sticking to a conveyor belt of samey-feeling games that only ever iterate on what came before. The desire to get weird and experimental with existing properties usually gets overshadowed by the fear of scaring away existing fans and, more crucially, jeopardising sales.

In the first decade of this century, one of the most popular PlayStation series made the bold decision to try something truly different with each of its games. It triumphed at reshaping its tone and gameplay without sacrificing its core identity or its critical and commercial success. And yet, that beautiful cacophony of seemingly inharmonious ideas that defined Jak and Daxter may also be an obstacle to its long-awaited return.

David Bowie once said: ‘I feel confident imposing change on myself. It's a lot more fun progressing than looking back. That's why I need to throw curve balls.’ One day, Jak and Daxter will return. Let’s hope the new game honours the spirit of the series and, instead of playing it safe, turns to face the strange.