Ratchet & Clank’s franchise has been dormant since Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart was released in 2021, but that didn’t stop some fans from searching for a game that few remembered. Ratchet & Clank: Clone Home was announced was announced in the mid-2000s as the follow-up to the mobile title Ratchet & Clank: Going Mobile. Although Clone Home was canceled and never officially released, the game has finally been found and a copy has been shared online.
The Golden Bolt’s YouTube channel (via Engadget) has posted a video detailing the years-long search for Ratchet & Clank: Clone Home. As noted in the video below, several members of the gaming community took part in the search, but college students “Emily” and “Super Gamer Omega Clank” were credited for finding a Sony Ericsson W880i that had a working copy of Clone Home. Breaking the phone’s encryption was the most difficult step, but their efforts paid off.
The title of the game refers to a pair of digital clones of Ratchet and Clank who team up with their counterparts in the real world to foil the plans of Vox, the returning nemesis from Going Mobile. The digital Ratchet and Clank exist in a video game within the game, and the real version of that duo are also transported into the game around halfway through the story.
It’s believed that Clone Alone was briefly online by mistake before being pulled down. The preserved copy is fully playable, but it’s unclear why Clone Home wasn’t released. The Golden Bolt believes it was over a possible legal dispute between Sony and Handheld Games, the developer of Going Mobile. He also notes that Clone Home was likely developed by JavaGround, rather than Handheld Games.
This isn’t the only surprise that fans of the Ratchet & Clank franchise had in 2025. Earlier this year, Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart senior designer Grant Parker revealed that he placed a hidden minigame in the title. Although Rift Apart was ported to PC in 2023, there’s no word on when or if another sequel will follow.
