Insomniac Games isn't owned by Sony, but no one would blame you for thinking so, as the studio's been a loyal, nearly first-party Sony developer since the PlayStation 2 days. That changes today, however, as Insomniac announced a deal with EA Partners for a brand-new game (read: not Ratchet & Clank or Resistance) that will be released on PlayStation 3....and Xbox 360. Oh, yes.
Like Respawn's deal with EA Partners and Bungie's deal with Activision, Insomniac will own the rights to this new game. Insomniac does not own Ratchet & Clank or Resistance, Sony does. The Sony ties also means Insomniac has exclusively developed for the PlayStation platform for years and years.
"We decided to do a multiplatform title a while ago," said CEO Ted Price to me in an interview conducted yesterday, "and we began looking around for publishers who have a global reach, who are multiplatform and have an expertise in marketing and all the distribution [connections] and all the things that we need help with as a developer. After talking to [EA Partners], we found that we were really compatible in terms of our creative approach and our mutual focus on quality over quantity and certainly you can't argue with EAP's success over the last several years. It ended up being a great fit."
In addition to expanding its reach to Xbox 360 owners, Insomniac is changing up their development process. Insomniac is famous for efficiency and has stuck to annual releases for a number of years. With PlayStation 3, Insomniac had been swapping Ratchet & Clank and Resistance every other year. Perhaps in response to widespread Resistance 2 critiques, that's changing going forward.
"You may be wondering why we’re announcing this game now, and how it relates to our existing projects," said Price in a blog post to fans at Insomniac's web site. "We’ve been developing games on an annual pace during the last 16 years. One thing that has become apparent to us though is that in order to live up to our own high standards of quality, we want to give ourselves more development time to iterate and polish our games. All future Insomniac titles will benefit from longer development cycles, which will directly benefit you, our fans."
Price also reiterated its commitment to Sony fans and the PlayStation platform, confirming the studio would make more PlayStation 3-only games down the line. A hint towards the rumored Resistance 3?
There are no details on the new game other than its target platforms. We won't hear about the game next month at E3 and Price told me it's unlikely we'll be hearing any more for a while (probably next year). You can read everything I managed to pull out of Price in an interview that went up today.
Have something to share? Sitting on a news tip? E-mail me. You can also follow me on Twitter.
Comments are Closed
Comments
Displaying 21–38 of 38
112
frankurban
so now that everything is going multiplatform i guess i wasted my money buying all 3 consoles?
osubluejacket
I've been saying for a long time, that it makes ZERO fiscal sense for a developer to limit its IPs to one platform when it could (potentially) double its sales by going mutli-platform. It's a win-win for EVERYONE.
cmdluke
Damn, Patrick. How do you get all the biggest stories. lol =)
Arius_de_Galdri
I think that this is pretty much the equivalent of Bungie's move a couple of months ago. It'll be good for everyone around, as we'll get to see some great new games for both consoles!
ProudFilipino
Sounds like a good deal I was afraid that Ratchet and Clank and Resistance series were gong multi but its not so Im happy :) and I cant wait for this new game!
JustTheBeginning
Its nice they are going multiplat and still keeping PS3 exclusives, I am sure they can do it since they have two separate studios. I just hope their new IP isn't hindered too much from being a 360 title. Since this would be their first 360 title there might be a learning curve at first on top of the 360 hardware limits. I just hope they still have quality over quantity in their mindset.
nightsnipe
the gaming world has been flipped on its head the past few weeks
cpspoo
Cool. Blur the lines of gaming segregation! Let us all get our "kum-ba-ya" on in this bitch... I look forward to playing the ME trilogy on my PS3 one day.
Redd75
All this means is, 'more awesomeness for all!'.
ilovemyjeep
"Insomniac Games isn't owned by Sony, but no one would blame you for thinking so, as the studio's been a loyal, nearly first-party Sony developer since the PlayStation 2 days."
Don't you mean Playstation days? Spyro?
TangoAlphaLima
Quite ironic that the former Microsoft loyalist Bungie and the former Sony loyalist Insomniac both decide to go multi-platform around the same time. I guess that's no surprise though, since that's where the money is.
Aurailious
Bungie went multiplatform, so Insomniac had to go as well to keep balance in the force.
deleted_C15928E0-D8DC-4CE4-9630-F94FAA269B56
I like the fact that more studios are seeing the benefits of multiplatform releases.
kwfang
Like I said in my other post just give us Resistance 3 already!!!
lowkevmic
I've always had a hard time understanding why all of the hardcore PS3 fans can't figure out why a Third Party Developer whose been loyal to Sony for so many years, will decide to go multiplatform all of a sudden?? It's more money!! Back in the days when the PS2 dominated the gaming industry, you could be a small developer and live pretty well off of only making games for Sony. But in today's market, you can't help but notice how not only is the PS3 not the dominating force it use to be, but it's actually behind the game and hardware sales of the Wii and Xbox360. So it would be in a developer's best interest to start making games for all consoles, and stop banking on the idea that Sony will keep your company afloat. Just ask Square Enix, Final Fantasy was a Playstation staple for years.
gamermoney
Good for insomniac
Shawny40
ea all day
Wandrecanada
I hope that EAP continues to set a great example for game dev studios and major publishers because so far it's been a boon to both the creative process and a more open platform independent market. Gotta hand it to EA.
Displaying 21–38 of 38
112