pre-production of the game began in late march 2001, with a team of approximately 35 people. the game went into production in november 2001, and by the end of the project, the team had grown to 45. the game was first released in north america on november 4, 2002, and then in australia on november 6, 2002. it was later released in pal regions on november 8, 2002, and in japan on december 3, 2002. in november 2003, sony added "ratchet & clank" to their greatest hits series of games for the playstation 2 when "ratchet & clank: going commando" was released at that time, and the game was similarly added to sony's platinum range used in the pal region on august 22, 2003. the game was added to japan's "the best" range on july 3, 2003; it was also the only game to be bundled with the playstation 2 in japan.