Sony recently made the classic PS2 platformer available for PlayStation Plus Premium subscribers on PS4 and PS5.

The Sly Cooper franchise has been MIA for over a decade, and even though it remains to be seen when (or if) it will come back, demand for the platforming series refuses to die down. Recently, for instance, Sony released the series’ original game, the 2002 PS2 classic Sly Cooper and the Thievius Raccoonus, for PlayStation Plus Premium subscribers on PS5 and PS4, and fans of the franchise have responded with enthusiasm to reflect their longstanding demand for Sly Cooper to come back.

In fact, as per a report published by TrueTrophies, from a data sample of over 3.1 million active PSN accounts, Sly Cooper has turned out to be the biggest launch for a game on the PlayStation Plus Classic Games Catalog, which is available only for PS Plus Premium subscribers. Previously, that record was held by The Legend of Dragoon, which joined the service’s catalog in 2023, though Sly Cooper has managed to attract 2.5 percent more players on PS5 and PS4 in its launch week.

PlayStation Plus Premium’s pool of users is ultimately a relatively small portion of the larger PSN userbase, so Sly Cooper’s numbers are unlikely to be huge in Sony’s estimation, though the hope for series fans will be that the game’s popularity on PlayStation Plus could spark internal discussions about whether a return is warranted for the franchise.

Back in 2022, Sly Cooper developer Sucker Punch said that a new instalment in the series wasn’t in development.