"Hey Ted, what can we do now that we ditched that dragon?"
"Well, maybe we should make another franchise based on an animal."
"What can we do with this animal? Make him jump some platforms?"
"Get real! The kids today don't just want platforms! They want guns and explosions with their platforming games! Did you not play Jet Force Gemini!?"
"Sorry boss. Hey, wait, I got an idea! What if we took a lombax and gave him a bunch of weapons? On top of that, he can pilot ships with ease! And he has a robot backpack that can help him solve puzzles, jump long crevasses with his helicopter blades and gently float him downwards! The kids will be all over this, since there'll be heaps of aliens, and a bumbling wannabe superhero, and the lombax will be a smart talking, gunslinging role model for all the kids!"
"Jimmy... you've done it again!"
Or at least, that's how Ratchet And Clank would've come into fruition. Insomniac ditched...