Sony acquires Insomniac Games [2019]

This always seemed like an acquisition that was destined to happen.

Almost all of Insomniac's successful games have been PlayStation exclusives.

I think the reason it finally happened is due to a couple of major factors that has overcome Insomniac's desire to stay independent.
  • Their non-PlayStation games haven't exactly set the world on fire and brought in large cash infusions.
  • Microsoft going hard to beef up their 1st party developer lineup might have gotten Sony to offer Insomniac more than they have in the past in order to aquire them.
    • It's possible Microsoft may have made an offer to Insomniac as well which might contribute to the next point...
  • Alternatively, Spiderman's success may have prompted Sony to offer a lot more money in order to ensure that Insomniac continues to make Sony exclusives.
This is a good fit for both Sony and Insomniac. They have had a great history together and each party knows what they are getting in the other party.

Regards,
SB
 
Should be a seamless integration into Sony first party studios and probably no major changes to Insomniac day to day.
 
RIP the dream for an X patch for sunset overdrive.

Good for Insomniac, and PS owners tho.

Spiderman 2 on PS5 then?
 
Destined to happen. They develop almost exclusively for PS platform and their biggest hits have always been PS games. SIE adds another great studio to their list.
 
Horrible for consumer choice or those wishing to eventually get these games on other platforms.
 
I think sony could give remedy just what they need.

Yeah. But does Sony really need another studio that secretly wished it would make films and not video games?
Insomniac balances out Sony's first party ips rather nicely. I hope they're not gonna become the Spider-man studio now. Would love to have a new, non-remade Ratchet game myself.
 
Yeah. But does Sony really need another studio that secretly wished it would make films and not video games?

Maybe they do, if they wanna stop having E3s with just trailers of games that were already demoed for the last 2 shows.
Oh, I forgot they solved that already by simply not showing up.
 
The quote says multiplayer titles. For pushing the PS platform, exclusives are necessary. Don't expect any tentpole IPs to become cross-platform.
In an interview, Shawn Layden, chairman of Sony's game studios worldwide, said exclusive titles will still be a part of the company's strategy, but that some games — particularly multiplayer titles designed to be played on personal computers — may see broader distribution. 'We must support the PlayStation platform — that is non-negotiable,' Layden said. 'That said, you will see in the future some titles coming out of my collection of studios which may need to lean into a wider installed base.'
HZD 2 - PS5 exclusive. HZUniverse, an F2P MMO riddled with microtransactions, will be cross-platform. Spider-Man 2 and Ratchet and Clank Forever will be PS5 exclusive as a platform pushers.
 
Horrible for consumer choice or those wishing to eventually get these games on other platforms.

Yeah, I do wonder if Sony will pull an Epic Game Store and pull Sunset Overdrive off the Microsoft Store and/or Gamepass. Although I don't think they can as I "think" MS owns the IP for that, but I'm not entirely sure.

That's one thing I like about Microsoft's acquisitions. Unlike Epic, they allow games that were in development prior to signing with Microsoft to be available on all platforms and stores they were on or were planned to be on if the game hasn't been released yet. Minecraft, Wasteland 2, Bard's Tale 4, Hellblade, The Outer Worlds, etc...

They could have easily made Minecraft a platform exclusive if they wanted to. But they thought of all the existing customers and instead decided to support all platforms...even years after the aquisition. Then again, the blowback of negative press would have been enormous, something that Epic doesn't care about.

Regards,
SB
 
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