Jak and Daxter

Jak and Daxter is a platform video game series that Andy Gavin and Jason Rubin created, with Sony Interactive Entertainment holding ownership. Naughty Dog handled the original development, while Ready at Dawn and High Impact Games worked on several later titles. The first game, Jak and Daxter: The Precursor Legacy, hit stores on December 4, 2001, and was among the early releases for the PlayStation 2. The franchise as a whole is considered a key series for that console.

The games are story-driven platformers blending action, racing, and puzzle-solving. They take place in a fictional world mixing science fantasy, steampunk, cyberpunk, and mystical elements, following the two main characters as they explore their world's secrets and the mysteries left by an ancient race called the Precursors. The development team at Naughty Dog and related stakeholders drew inspiration from both Eastern and Western cultures when making the first game.

The first three games were re-released on PlayStation 3 and PlayStation Vita as the Jak and Daxter Collection, a remastered set that works with the PlayStation Network and PlayStation Suite. In August 2017, those three games plus Jak X: Combat Racing came to PlayStation 4 as the Jak and Daxter Bundle, launching alongside Uncharted: The Lost Legacy. That December, Jak and Daxter: The Precursor Legacy, Jak II, Jak 3, and Jak X: Combat Racing became available for individual purchase on the same platform.

The first four games later reached PlayStation 5 through backward compatibility with PlayStation 4. In 2024, the remaining two titles—Daxter and Jak and Daxter: The Lost Frontier—were re-released for PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5. The series has also spawned various extended media and merchandise, and has sold more than 15 million copies worldwide. Main installments Jak and Daxter: The Precursor Legacy first came out in North America on December 4, 2001, for PlayStation 2.

Main installments

After Daxter falls into a Dark Eco silo on the forbidden Misty Island, he turns from a human into an ottsel—a fictional mix of otter and weasel. To turn Daxter back, he and Jak set out to find the Dark Eco sage Gol Acheron. They discover Acheron has been corrupted by Dark Eco, so they use Light Eco to defeat him and save the world, though Daxter stays in his ottsel form.