2021 marks the 25th anniversary of the Jet Moto franchise. An early flagship title for the PlayStation, the franchise saw three entries on the system and its first two titles would go on to join Sony’s Greatest Hits line of best-selling games. It was one of Sony’s earliest racing games, following Ridge Racer and even predating Sony’s modern racing flagship franchise Gran Turismo.
Despite the franchise’s early prominence, it has not seen a new entry since Jet Moto 3 in 1999. While the games were re-released on the PlayStation Store in 2007, the series has otherwise laid dormant since the two failed attempts at sequels in the early 2000s. With its anniversary on the horizon, it’s worth considering if Jet Moto has a place in today’s gaming landscape, and whether a sequel makes sense for Sony.
History of the Jet Moto Series
Jet Moto was a futuristic racing game released for the PlayStation in 1996. It offered a fresh perspective on the racing genre by allowing players to control hoverbikes that ride over land and water. It took the concept of motocross racing and elevated it by adding a science fiction twist. The game was largely seen as Sony’s answer to Nintendo‘s success with Wave Race 64, a Nintendo 64 launch game centered around jet skis. Despite concerns about the game’s difficulty level, Jet Moto would sell over a million copies and spawn two sequels on the PlayStation.
While the first two games were successful, Jet Moto 3 would see its sales decline, an early red flag that would bleed into the franchise’s next attempt. Jet Moto 2124 was in development at Sony’s 989 Studio as a futuristic entry in the series. Development issues persisted, with worries about camera issues, poor physics and weak track design, but greater concerns were at play.
Beyond Jet Moto 3‘s poor sales, 989 Studio failed to receive marketing support as the result of a new company president who questioned the need for a fourth entry. Thus, the game was canceled two years into production, just before it entered beta testing. Another game known as Jet Moto: SOLAR was in development for the PlayStation 2 by RedZone Interactive, but no press releases or gameplay information was made public, and the game was quietly canceled in 2003.
Could Jet Moto Return?
Sony has been silent on the possibility of a Jet Moto revival, with the PS Store re-release being the last time the company in any way acknowledged the franchise. It seems Sony has placed its racing game resources fully into Gran Turismo, and in a gaming industry that has emphasized realistic, visually stunning racing games, perhaps it would prefer to compete with Xbox and its prominence with the Forza series. Recently, though, Sony supported the push to revive forgotten franchises and IPs, such as Crash Bandicoot, Spyro the Dragon and MediEvil, so the odds of a new Jet Moto aren’t entirely nonexistent.
Furthermore, the success of lighthearted, arcade-style racing games like Mario Kart 8 Deluxe and Crash Team Racing: Nitro-Fueled shows that there is still demand for games in this style. Jet Moto could easily fit into that category and earn a revival of some kind on PlayStation 5.
Perhaps a new Jet Moto could also be a perfect fit for PlayStation VR. Virtual reality has been a place for developers to experiment with reviving long-dormant franchises such as Half-Life, Space Channel 5, and Medal of Honor. Jet Moto could easily earn such a revival, and perhaps virtual reality could allow Sony to try new things and be as experimental as possible with a new entry.
Jet Moto has been a long-forgotten franchise of Sony’s. As industry trends have changed, it would appear the franchise may not fit the company’s current business model. However, as its 25th anniversary dawns, now may be the perfect time for Jet Moto to return. With new technology provided by Sony’s modern systems, the possibilities for experimentation are endless. There’s a prevailing theory in the gaming industry that an IP never dies; it just rests. Perhaps now might be the time to awaken Jet Moto from its rest.