Months after new trademarks were spotted, the creator of Ecco The Dolphin has confirmed the series is returning next year.
When it was discovered that Sega had filed new trademarks for Ecco The Dolphin in January, it was suspected that this was the secret announcement Microsoft was teasing for the then upcoming Xbox showcase.
That wasn’t the case, with the surprise reveal being for a new Ninja Gaiden instead, but it appears there was significance behind those Ecco trademarks after all.
According to Ecco creator Ed Annunziata, not only is he and the original team reuniting to remaster the first two Ecco games, but they’re working on a new sequel as well.
Xbox Wire recently posted an article celebrating Asian and Pacific Islander Heritage Month, where it highlighted several games, like Tchia and Ecco, that take inspiration from API cultures.
This included a short interview with Annunziata about Ecco’s influences and how it aimed to raise awareness about ocean preservation, which Annunziata capped off with an announcement for the future of the series.
‘Me and the entire original team are going to remaster the original Ecco The Dolphin and Tides Of Time games,’ explained Annunziata. ‘Then we will make a new, third game with contemporary play and GPU sensibilities.’
There are no other details, with Annunziata only sharing a countdown website that’s set to end in approximately 8,500 hours at the time of writing. So, you can expect to see a bigger announcement around this time next year.
Curiously, there’s no mention of Sega’s involvement with any of these projects, but you have to assume it is since, aside from the aforementioned trademarks, Sega owns the rights to the Ecco IP.
Original developer Appaloosa Interactive was a Hungarian studio that made the Ecco games for Sega and was never a subsidiary of the company.
What is Ecco The Dolpin?
Ecco The Dolphin is a series of extremely challenging action adventure games for the Mega Drive and Dreamcast, that saw the titular dolphin explore the depths of the ocean and travel through time to fend off an alien invasion.
Popular with non-gamers at the time, Ecco developed a cult following and has seen a handful of re-releases over the years.
However, the series met its end with the Dreamcast game Ecco The Dolphin: Defender Of The Future, a reboot that we’re guessing the new Ecco game will ignore in favour of sticking with the continuity of the first two games.
The Dreamcast game wasn’t a big hit and a planned sequel was cancelled, which is the last time Appaloosa Interactive worked with Sega. Although they did make a spiritual successor in 2006’s Jaws Unleashed, which had many similarities with Defender Of The Future.
It wasn’t a success either and proved to be Appalosa Interactive’s last game, with the studio shutting down the very same year.
Ever since, Annunziata has been trying to continue Ecco the Dolphin, having previously ran a crowdfunding campaign for a spiritual successor called The Big Blue that ultimately failed.
In the wake of its failure, Annunziata filed a lawsuit to try and reclaim Ecco from Sega and according to a GamesBeat report from 2016, the two sides reached an undisclosed settlement.
Presumably, this has helped pave the way for Annunziata to reunite the original team for the Ecco remasters and sequel.
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