Insomniac Games, the well-known studio behind last year’s enormously successful PlayStation exclusive Spider-Man has been bought by Sony, the company announced today. The Californian studio will exclusively develop games for PlayStation going forward. The timing of the news, between Spider-Man’s huge success and the upcoming launch of the PS5, suggests that Sony is doubling down on exclusive titles.
Insomniac Games Will Become an Exclusive PlayStation Development Studio
Lately, Insomniac Games is perhaps known best for developing 2018’s Spider-Man, the much-lauded and bestselling PlayStation exclusive. However, the studio’s history goes all the way back to 1994. In fact, Insomniac Games have a long history of working with Sony. After all, they developed the ‘Ratchet and Clank’ and ‘Resistance’ franchises, not to mention Spyro the Dragon. However, in recent years the studio has attempted to branch out to other platforms somewhat. The studio released Sunset Overdrive in 2014 as part of a collaboration with Microsoft, for example. However, that outreach will now come to an end.
Sony announced earlier today that they will soon be acquiring Insomniac Games, which will become an exclusive developer of PlayStation games. It will be the 14th studio that Sony has acquired as part of their ‘SIE Worldwide Studios’. The timing of the announcement suggests that Sony plans to continue their strategy of relying heavily on triple-A console exclusives in the next console generation. Spider-Man was one of the most successful PlayStation exclusive titles last year (although it faced stiff competition from God of War). As such, it seems that Sony plans for Insomniac Games to spearhead some of their first-party projects.
Given that most fans and analysts alike expect the PS5 to launch next year; it’s entirely possible that Insomniac Games will transition to working on a game for the new console right away. Certainly, a next-gen sequel to last year’s Spider-Man would likely receive a very positive reception from fans. However, with the direct support of Sony, they may be able to undertake even more ambitious development projects.