If Jak & Daxter was a cheerful platforming jaunt through some lovely environments, then Jak 2 was “Pixar does emo”. Naughty Dog were prepared to create a sequel to the game if the sales and reception of the first game warranted one, but after the near universal acclaim The Precursor’s Legacy received, Jak 2 entered production not long after the launch of the first game. Jak & Daxter would grow to become a smash hit for Sony and Naughty Dog, scoring an average of 90 on Metacritic and managed to sell over two million copies by 2007 in just America alone. This was due to the company focusing development on Crash Team Racing at the time, with the full development team reaching 35 members by the time the game launched. Development for J&D began in 1999 under the codename “Project Y”, with Naughty Dog initially only assigning two programmers to the project. Launched in 2001, Jak & Daxter: The Precursor’s Legacy was developed by Naughty Dog, who had already been responsible for the smash hit Crash Bandicoot series, which was still going strong by this point.

The History of Jak & Daxter Jak and Daxter games We’re asking the question: will we ever see Jak & Daxter again? The elf-looking human Jak and the whatever the hell Daxter became (an ottsel apparently), were an iconic staple of the PS2-era of gaming, but moving towards the PS3 and onwards, the duo have been conspicuous by their absence.

While all three of those games have managed to transfer over to modern consoles, one franchise seems to have fallen by the wayside: Jak & Daxter. The PlayStation 2 was sort of the home for 3D action platformers, with the likes of Ratchet & Clank, Crash Bandicoot and Spyro The Dragon all finding multiple releases on Sony’s little box of wonders.

Jak and daxter guide