Crackdown 3 hinted at?

Microsoft Game Studios head Phil Spencer has told IGN that Crackdown “isn’t dead.”

The trademark glowing orb from Crackdown was spotted on one of the slides at the Xbox One reveal – GamingBolt has the image – which sparked talk of a next-gen Crackdown.

E3 has passed without a Crackdown reveal but Phil Spencer has been talking up the series again.

“Oh… Crackdown is one of my favorite games, and not just because it’s a Microsoft first-party game,” he told IGN. “I have a lot of love for that franchise. The homage to Crackdown in the reveal screenshots was… I know there was some, like, ‘Did we accidentally sneak that…?’ It wasn’t accidental. Definitely.”

“No, I don’t think Crackdown is dead at all,” he continued. “It’s a franchise that’s still close to me. I think there’s a lot of room, especially… 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.”

If there is a Crackdown 3 – and it sounds increasingly like there will be a new outing in the series Hopefully we’ll see a Crackdown announcement of some sort at Gamescom in August.