Earlier today we were somewhat surprised to learn that Insomniac Games had signed an exclusive publishing agreement for a new IP with Electronic Arts. After all, the studio behind blockbuster games like Ratchet & Clank and Resistance had always been loyal to Sony, releasing its titles only on PlayStation. The fact of the matter, however, is that exclusive console development is going to become rarer and rarer. Reaching a wider audience by tapping into multiple platforms' installed bases just makes plain business sense considering how much it costs to make a game these days.
Having said all that, the era of PlayStation exclusive games from Insomniac is not over. IndustryGamers contacted Sony and the company didn't seem too worried. "Sony Computer Entertainment and Insomniac Games will continue to build upon a strong, successful 14-year partnership that has led to more than 35 million games sold and enjoyed by fans around the world. We look forward to unveiling Insomniac’s next PS3 exclusive properties in the near future," a spokesperson told us.
3 Comments
May 25, 2010
This is probably going to lead to an E3 announcement about Resistance 3. But will it be a real exclusive....or a timed one.
May 25, 2010
Actually, that can't happen. Sony owns IP like Resistance and Ratchet & Clank. Ted Price confirmed that to me today. I'll be posting the interview soon.
May 26, 2010
This situation may bum out some PlayStation enthusiasts, but its not as bad as it seems. For one, everything Insomniac does will still be coming to PS3. Two (as I kind of expected before this announcement) they're still doing development for exclusive PS3 franchises - they do well by Resistance and R&C, this new venture is just an expansion on their business.
While comparisons could be made between what Insomniac and Bungie have done, the later stings a bit more for the Xbox 360 since Bungie is definitely not working on more Halo after Reach (at least for the perceivable future) and their work for the Xbox brand is far more meaningful that Insomniac's is for PlayStation (which is still pretty important, but hasn't defined the platform the same way Halo has for Xbox).
It's the dawn of a new era for developers, where they can negotiate strong deals on their own terms.