The Police drummer and co-founder Stewart Copeland has confirmed he won’t be back to create the soundtrack for Spyro: A Realm Beyond.
Copeland composed the music for the first four mainline Spyro The Dragon games – Spyro The Dragon, Ripto’s Rage, Year Of The Dragon and Enter The Dragonfly. He returned to the franchise in 2018 to remaster the music for updated classics collection Spyro Reignited Trilogy, as well as composing a new song for the game.
Earlier this month, a brand new Spyro game was announced but Copeland has confirmed he isn’t involved in A Realm Beyond. “It’s a new generation. They want a new generation of sound and everything… they’ve got to modernise it,” he told The Independent. “No harm, no foul.”
Spyro: A Realm Beyond is the first new entry in the franchise in 18 years, and launches early next year. According to game developer Toys For Bob’s studio head Paul Yan, their goal for A Realm Beyond was to tap into the nostalgia of Spyro while also pushing the franchise forward in a meaningful way. “Our goal is that we want Spyro to live on for a long time. We want not just one new game, but many new games. We hope that this is the first of many.”
“So we’re going to have to take some risks,” he explained. “We’re going to have to move into new territory. Our goal is to make sure that that evolution is always speaking to something that is authentic and reverential to building on the foundation of what is truly Spyro, and then we’ll take some leaps.”
Following Spyro’s revival, there are rumours a new Crash Bandicoot game could be in the works alongside a movie.
In other news, the soundtrack for the first three Halo games is getting a vinyl release ahead of the Campaign Evolved remake.