Eurogamer
It looks like a new Crackdown game for Xbox One is in the works.
Microsoft Studios boss Phil Spencer told IGN that the Crackdown-related image that popped up on screen during Microsoft's Xbox One reveal event in May "wasn't accidental".
"Oh... Crackdown is one of my favourite games, and not just because it's a Microsoft first-party game," he said.
"I have a lot of love for that franchise. The homage to Crackdown in the [21st May 21] reveal screenshots was... I know there was some, like, 'Did we accidentally sneak that...?' It wasn't accidental. Definitely."
The orb that set the Crackdown rumour train rolling.
He added: "No, I don't think Crackdown is dead at all. It's a franchise that's still close to me," before suggesting any future Crackdown game would make use of the much-discussed Xbox One cloud in some way.
"For me, the natural progression for a game like Crackdown - and you see this showing up on our stage - is in these living, open worlds that live in the cloud," he said.
So, if a new Crackdown game is in the works, who's making it?
Back in February 2013 Crackdown 2 developer Ruffian Games, currently making Tribal Towers, said it wasn't working on Crackdown 3.
"I know, I know it's as shocking as finding out your favourite lasagne is chock-a-block with Red Rum's offspring," Ruffian co-founder Billy Thomson said.
"The thing is it's simply not an offer that's on our production table right now, so rather than dwell on this lets get back to the real story here."
Realtime Worlds, developer of the first Crackdown game, a sandbox third-person shooter game for Xbox 360 that released in 2007, is no more after the unsuccessful launch of MMO APB.
