Update (): Following the emergence of scattered rumors about the team behind the supposedly new Ape Escape game, new credible sources have emerged that corroborate the information.
Jeff Gerstmann, a video game journalist best known for his work at Giant Bomb, has independently stated (in his podcast) that the report below is true: Evening Star Studio is the developer working on Ape Escape.
On top of that, VGC also backed this claim, after hearing from its “own sources” that this is indeed the case in a new report.
It seems Gerstmann heard about it a while ago and the game may be in very early development.
Original story: Rumor has it that Sony is going after its dormant, fan-favorite franchises, and among those is the supposed revival of a true old-school classic: Ape Escape.
Well, the rumor mill has continued to churn, and now there’s a slim, but very plausible, fan theory about which team is bringing back those mischievous pipo monkeys.
The first thought was always Team Asobi, who would be a great fit for the platform game series.
However, the current theory going around is that Ape Escape is in the hands of indie developer Evening Star Studio.
If you’re not familiar with this team, its senior executives are known for working on Sonic Mania, the beloved classic 2017 Sonic revival.
As Evening Star, however, the team only released one game: Penny’s Big Breakaway, a 3D platformer with unique controls, charming stylized visuals, and cute enemies that can appear in large numbers. Sound familiar?
In the post above (translated via X), Reddit user IcyPenguin28 claims to have heard from “a few credible sources” that Evening Star is behind the Ape Escape revival.
Apparently, Hunter Bridges, CTO and game director on Penny’s Big Breakaway, is a fan of the series.
It’s slightly deeper than that. @AsobiAr also unearthed a job posting for the studio as they were recruiting for a 3D character artist “with proven experience modeling, rigging, and animating anime-style characters.”
At the top of thatEvening Star CEO and executive producer Dave Padilla moved to Tokyo in 2025, around the same time the studio began hiring.
Again, this is all pretty tenuous, but I’m starting to think it might carry some weight. The jump from Penny’s Big Breakaway to Ape Escape isn’t a big one in my opinion; I can absolutely see this studio would be a great fit.
Either way, we probably won’t hear about a new Ape Escape, or even another revival, until they arrive much closer.
Gn tech
