Last December, Sega filed trademarks for the long-dormant IP, Ecco the Dolphin. Read on to find out what this may mean for the franchise!

Sega Revives Ecco IP With Trademark

Ecco The Dolphin Returns

As reported by Gematsu, Sega filed trademarks for Ecco and Ecco the Dolphin late December last year, igniting speculation about a potential revival of the IP after 24 years of dormancy. The news became public today, following the filing on December 27th, 2024.

Originally launched in 1992 by Hungarian game development studio Appaloosa Interactive (formerly known as Novotrade International) and published by Sega, Ecco the Dolphin features the titular Ecco, a bottlenose dolphin who embarks on a quest to combat extraterrestrial alien threats and prevent them from taking over the planet. The series saw four sequels up until the year 2000. Plans for a follow-up to the 2000 release, Ecco the Dolphin: Defender of the Future, titled Ecco II: Sentinels of the Universe, were abandoned after the decline of the Sega Dreamcast and the subsequent halt in console production.

Currently, Sega stands as a renowned game developer and publisher, while Appaloosa Interactive ceased operations in the mid-2000s. However, its former staff continues to contribute to the video game industry. Ed Annunziata, the creator of Ecco the Dolphin, released Space War Arena in 2019 and expressed his ongoing hope for an Ecco sequel in a 2019 interview with NintendoLife, stating, "One thing I can say is in the future, people are playing this game. I never give up!"

As of now, there have been no further concrete developments regarding the future of Ecco the Dolphin. Stay tuned for more updates. This could soon join the extensive list of IPs that Sega is actively working on. Over the past two years, Sega has announced numerous projects, including revivals of classic franchises such as Crazy Taxi, Jet Set Radio, Golden Axe, Shinobi, and Virtua Fighter, along with new IPs like the enigmatic Project Century and the "RPG-like" Virtua Fighter.