Crackdown 4 May Already Be In Development

It’s no secret that Microsoft has struggled to deliver on first-party content this generation.

Sony has led the charge on that front with terrific titles such as God of War, Spider-Man and Horizon Zero Dawn, while Xbox owners have largely had to make-do with Rare’s Sea of Thieves and the admittedly fantastic Forza Horizon 4. The lack of triple-A heavyweights has been attributed to a number of issues and failures over the years, most notably that of PlatinumGames’ Scalebound being cancelled and, of course, Crackdown 3 failing to meet expectations.

Whether or not the rough and ready nature of Sumo Digital’s sequel has eliminated any chance of a Crackdown 4 ever being released remains to be seen, but the developer does appear to be in the early stages of making a new game, it would seem. A cursory glance over the studio’s careers page reveals a number of job listings which, more often than not, is indicative of a new project about to enter full-blown production.

More telling still, is that the majority of open vacancies are seeking artists and coders, with one of the latter, strangely, seeking an individual with “a passion for racing games of all types.”

The Crackdown series has traditionally always featured driving as a core gameplay component, but these requirements seemingly pertain to a title specifically centered around racing. Should that be the case, it’s possible that Microsoft has Sumo working on a new Forza entry while Playground Games moves away from the series to work on a rumored Fable 4 for the next-gen Xbox. Truthfully, we likely won’t have a definitive answer either way until next year’s E3 and with both outcomes a possibility, we’ve no choice but to play the detested waiting game until either Sumo or Microsoft itself makes an official announcement.

In the meantime, however, feel free to speculate along with us by sharing your hopes for a potential Crackdown 4 in the comments below!