EA Partners is having a good year; there can be no doubt about that. Insomniac Games, the latest in a string of big name developers, has signed a new publishing agreement that will finally allow them to publish on multiple platforms, after years of creating games exclusively for Sony platforms. EA's on a roll - they might have lost Bungie for now, but they certainly gained another well-established developer with this deal.
Insomniac has signed the deal in anticipation for an all-new franchise. This is the first time Insomniac has done a multi-platform release, and it seems like Insomniac couldn’t be happier. “Working with EA Partners allows us to extend the reach of our games to a multi-platform audience while retaining ownership of the intellectual property,” said Ted Price, founder and CEO of Insomniac Games. “We are excited and eager to introduce Insomniac to a new group of gamers while reinforcing to our loyal fans what makes our games special.”
“This is an exciting day for all of us at EA Partners and for gamers everywhere,” said David DeMartini, Senior Vice President and General Manager of EA Partners. “Insomniac is renowned for their commitment to quality and their ability to create unique, exciting worlds for gamers to explore. We look forward to help them bring their next blockbuster franchise to the millions of diehard Insomniac fans on PlayStation and the soon to be millions of diehard Insomniac fans on Xbox 360.”
Insomniac is one of the top developers for the PS3, and with the console gaining momentum, this could affect Sony in a big way.
There's no word on what the new franchise is or when it will be released, but with Insomniac’s history of big name franchises such as Spyro the Dragon, Ratchet & Clank and of course Resistance, this should be a happy moment for Xbox 360 fans. Insomniac's games have sold more than 35 million copies worldwide. The new IP is currently being planned for 360 and PS3 (Wii wasn't mentioned).
IndustryGamers will be speaking with both EA and Insomniac later today - stay tuned!
4 Comments
May 25, 2010
DICE, Respawn, and now Insomniac, EA is getting pretty stacked with shooter developers. They also have their retail contract with Valve - their EA Partners division is just doing tons of business.
May 25, 2010
Unfortunately for EA, the margins on EA Partners deals are usually smaller than for wholly-owned properties, which may be why EA's stock didn't climb on the news.
May 25, 2010
@David Radd-
DICE (Digital Illusions) has been signed to EA for a long time.
May 25, 2010
Yeah, the trends are better for developers than they are for publishers, but hey, I'm sure they'd rather have the publishing revenue than not. You look at all these recent deals with Insomniac, Bungie, and ReSpawn, they definitely have the leverage now.