During the PSX era Sony marketed Crash as their clear cut mascot, and Spyro as a key secondary title. Yet Sony didn't own the rights to Crash or Spyro, Universal did. If I remember correctly Sony and Universal had a publishing agreement which allowed for these two series to remain PSX exclusive.
But eventually the agreement expired. My question is whether or not there were ever any reports of Microsoft attempting to enter a similar agreement with Universal (before the two series became multi platform). This would have allowed Spyro and Crash to become exclusive MS property. Considering how deep the financial resources of MS has been for years, as well as how hot those two franchises were at the time, it seems like a proposition MS should have at least considered.
Also did Sony ever try to buy the rights to the Crash series? Granted I'm sure Sony had a lot of confidence in Naughty Dog to create another hot series, which they did, but letting Crash go multi platform could have hurt some of the momentum Sony had built with the PSone (especially if Sony, during the PS2 era, hadn't been able to keep its awesome third party support intact).
But eventually the agreement expired. My question is whether or not there were ever any reports of Microsoft attempting to enter a similar agreement with Universal (before the two series became multi platform). This would have allowed Spyro and Crash to become exclusive MS property. Considering how deep the financial resources of MS has been for years, as well as how hot those two franchises were at the time, it seems like a proposition MS should have at least considered.
Also did Sony ever try to buy the rights to the Crash series? Granted I'm sure Sony had a lot of confidence in Naughty Dog to create another hot series, which they did, but letting Crash go multi platform could have hurt some of the momentum Sony had built with the PSone (especially if Sony, during the PS2 era, hadn't been able to keep its awesome third party support intact).