Highlights
- Sony renews trademarks for classic PS2 games The Mark of Kri and Rise of the Kasai, sparking interest in a possible revival or remaster.
- The possibility of a sequel or reboot for the hack-and-slash titles exists, but fans should temper expectations until Sony makes an official announcement.
- Renewals are common, so it's unclear if the franchise will make a comeback, but considering recent PC ports, a remaster might be possible.
Sony has recently renewed the trademarks for The Mark of Kri and Rise of the Kasai, two hack-and-slash games that were originally released for the PS2. These classic gems from the 2000s have been left aside by Sony for quite a while, but it seems that the publisher could be interested in this series once more.
Developed by San Diego Studio, The Mark of the Kri was originally released for PS2 in 2002. The game was an excellent old-school hack-and-slash adventure that received mostly positive reviews, praised for its unique art style greatly inspired by Polynesian culture and action-packed levels. The title was successful enough to gain a direct sequel called Rise of the Kasai in 2005, which was developed by BottleRocket Entertainment and allowed for four different playable characters. Despite still achieving success, however, the franchise never received a third game.
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Now, Sony has renewed the trademarks for the two hack-and-slash titles, showing interest in these classic PS2 games once more. According to filings in the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), Sony filed to renew the trademarks back on March 11, 2024. Fans could be wondering what Sony will do with these franchises, though, and that is not entirely clear at the moment.
Sony Renews Trademarks for The Mark of Kri and Rise of the Kasai
Both The Mark of Kri and Rise of the Kasai can be played on PS4 and PS5 at the moment with high resolutions, so a simple remaster does not seem especially likely. However, it could happen, especially considering that Sony has been releasing several PC ports in the last few years, and some of them, like the recent Horizon Forbidden West port, have been well-received by the community.
It’s also possible that Sony is planning a sequel or a reboot of The Mark of Kri and Rise of the Kasai, delivering a brand-new story set in the game’s universe. Despite the huge success of Marvel’s Spider-Man 2, for example, AAA games can be very expensive to make, costing over $300 million. So, it’s natural that Sony would also like to revive lesser-known franchises that could potentially bring in profit without having such high production costs. In any case, fans of the classic PS2 games should temper their expectations. IP renewals are fairly common, so it’s still entirely unconfirmed whether The Mark of Kri and Rise of the Kasai will make a comeback or not, and fans should wait until Sony officially announces anything before getting too excited.
