Crypto is back. Or he was. For a minute there, it really felt like the Furon Empire was staging a massive, permanent takeover of modern consoles. After Black Forest Games and THQ Nordic dropped the remake of the first Destroy All Humans! in 2020, followed by the psychedelic Reprobed in 2022, the momentum felt unstoppable. Fans started looking at the horizon, squinting for any sign of Destroy All Humans 3. But then, things got quiet. Real quiet.
Honestly, the silence is a bit deafening if you're a fan of high-octane cow tossing and 1970s satire.
We have to look at the cold, hard reality of the gaming industry in 2026. Making games is expensive. It's risky. While the remakes did well—especially the first one—the path toward a brand-new, built-from-the-ground-up sequel isn't as simple as just hitting a "generate sequel" button. There’s a massive gap between polishing a classic and inventing an entirely new era for Crypto to dismantle.
The Problem With the Number Three
Let's get one thing straight: Destroy All Humans! Path of the Furon technically exists. It came out in 2008. It was, to put it bluntly, a bit of a disaster. It was buggy, the frame rate chugged like a broken tractor, and it never even made it to the PlayStation 3 in North America because of development hurdles. When people talk about Destroy All Humans 3 today, they usually aren't talking about a remake of that specific mess. They want a "real" third entry. Something that ignores the past mistakes and takes the franchise into the 1980s.
Think about it. Neon lights. Synthwave. Cocaine-fueled action movies. The 80s are a goldmine for the kind of cynical humor this series breathes.
But here’s the rub. THQ Nordic hasn't officially greenlit a project with that title. We’ve seen "Destroy All Humans! 2 - Reprobed" receive a "Single Player" version for older consoles and various patches, but the trail for a full-blown sequel has gone somewhat cold.
Why? Because the market changed.
Looking at the Data and the Devs
Black Forest Games, the studio behind the remakes, faced significant layoffs in early 2024. Reports from Embracer Group—the massive parent company that owns THQ Nordic—indicated a "restructuring" that hit the studio hard. When a studio loses 50% of its workforce, "unannounced project X" usually gets put on the back burner or canceled entirely. It’s a gut punch for anyone hoping for a 2025 or 2026 release date.
Success in the AA gaming space is a tightrope walk.
The first remake sold over a million copies fairly quickly. That’s huge for a mid-budget title. However, Reprobed had a rockier launch. It was "Next-Gen Only" at first, which limited the audience, and it was plagued by screen-tearing and crashes on the PlayStation 5. It takes a lot of goodwill to bounce back from that and convince a publisher to dump $30 million into a brand-new script, new assets, and a new engine for a third game.
If we do get a Destroy All Humans 3, it probably won't be the game you expect. It might be a total reboot. Or, it could be a smaller, more experimental title.
What the Furon Lore Actually Permits
The series has always been about parodying specific decades.
- 1950s: Red Scare, B-movies, suburban paranoia.
- 1960s: Hippies, KGB, British invasion, Moon landing.
- 1970s: Disco, funk, cults, and roller skates (the "lost" era).
If a new game moves into the 1980s, the potential for gameplay mechanics is wild. Imagine Crypto navigating a parody of Miami or a Cold War-era Berlin. The weapons would need an upgrade. The Zap-O-Matic is iconic, sure, but we need something that feels "80s." Maybe a weaponized Walkman? A shoulder-mounted laser that fires to the beat of a Casio keyboard?
The humor would have to pivot, too. The "probing" jokes are a staple, but they're getting a bit long in the tooth. To make a third game work in the current cultural climate, the writers would need to be sharper than ever. Satire is harder to pull off now than it was in 2005. Reality is already pretty weird.
The Embracer Factor
You can't talk about Destroy All Humans 3 without talking about the "Embracer Group" meltdown. After a $2 billion deal fell through in 2023, the company started closing studios like it was a fire sale. Volition (the Saints Row devs) is gone. Free Radical Design is gone.
Black Forest Games survived, but they are leaner now.
Typically, when a publisher is in "survival mode," they stick to guaranteed hits. They want "safe" bets. Is Crypto a safe bet? Probably. He’s a recognizable mascot. He has a dedicated fanbase. But he’s not SpongeBob or Metro. He’s in that middle ground where a project could go either way.
There's also the "Remake Fatigue" to consider. We've had a lot of them lately. Dead Space, Resident Evil, Silent Hill. If THQ Nordic thinks the audience is tired of nostalgia, they might sit on the IP for another five years until the "90s nostalgia" cycle fully peaks so they can parody The X-Files and grunge culture.
What Fans Should Actually Watch For
If you're hunting for news, stop looking for "leaks" on 4chan. Most of those are fake. Instead, watch the financial reports from Embracer Group. They list "unannounced projects" in their quarterly PDFs. If you see a "Significant IP" listed under Black Forest Games’ pipeline, there is hope.
Also, keep an eye on SteamDB. Before the first two remakes were announced, "Project Mars" and other codenames popped up in the backend of Steam.
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Actionable Reality Check
Right now, the "official" status of a third game is: Not in active, public development.
But that doesn't mean you're out of luck. If you want to see this franchise continue, there are actually a few things that help more than shouting into the void on X (formerly Twitter):
- Play the standalone DLCs: If the "Clone Carnage" multiplayer or the "Single Player" ports show engagement, it proves to the suits that the IP is still alive.
- Support the "AA" Space: Games like The Invincible or RoboCop: Rogue City show publishers that there is a massive market for mid-budget, single-player games that don't need to be "Live Services."
- Monitor the "THQ Nordic Digital Showcase": They hold this every August. If Crypto doesn't show up there, he's likely in cryo-sleep for the foreseeable future.
The reality is that Destroy All Humans 3 faces an uphill battle. It’s a game caught between a studio's restructuring and a publisher's financial crisis. However, the Furon Empire has survived worse. Crypto has been blown up, cloned, and replaced more times than we can count.
If the game does happen, expect a shift. Expect a smaller scope but higher polish. Or expect a move to a different developer entirely if Black Forest is tied up with other projects like their rumored Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Last Ronin game.
Stay skeptical of "Release Date 2026" rumors you see on random retail sites. Those are placeholders. Until you see a trailer with that gravelly, Richard Horvitz-voice screaming about pathetic monkeys, it’s all just space dust.
Next Steps for the Dedicated Furon:
Check the official THQ Nordic website for their latest "Project Pipeline" updates. If you haven't played the Path of the Furon original, you can actually find it on the Xbox store via backward compatibility—it's the closest thing to a "third" game we have, flaws and all. Finally, keep an eye on the "Black Forest Games" LinkedIn page; a sudden hiring surge for "Level Designers" or "Comedy Writers" is usually the first real sign that something alien is brewing.