Potential Sony buyout situation for Insomniac

Sony and Insomniac. Two companies with a long storied history of ventures together. Originally, Insomniac was one of the developers for the long defunct 3DO platform. However, once the 3DO fizzled out, they moved onto the new up and coming (at the time) system, the Playstation. And thus, the union began. Ever since their first game for the system, Disruptor, Insomniac has had continued success within the playstation family of systems. Spyro, Ratchet & Clank, and Resistance were all franchises they've created and these franchises assisted heavily into the growth of the Playstation brand. However, even with their great business relationship, Insomniac has always managed to remain independent, time and again turning down any potential buyouts by Sony.

[Nawert]

The only reason I would see Sony wanting to buy them now after they went multiform and received bad press all around will be because the value dropped. I wouldn't mind them somehow taking control of Spyro again somehow. Sony, Activision, and Insomniac need to talk.

[Abash]

I personally don't feel like buying Insomniac is worth it. The relationship they have with them developing the Ratchet & Clank games is fine as is. Fuse shows that the new IPs they'd make would try to appeal more to the mass audience and don't really stand out

[Jinkies]

"Fuse shows that the new IPs they'd make would try to appeal more to the mass audience and don't really stand out"

What are you talking about FUSE looks terrible, with Overstrike it looked promising but under EAs control they will be ruined just like Bioware and Visceral Games.

I really hope Sony buys then, I think Fuse will fail, not because it looks generic and that it's had hardly no marketing despite coming out in a few months but because in that same month it's going up against God of War and Gears of War.

I really hope they will go bac to Spyro is Sony ever buys the rights back, same goes for Crash Bandicoot who they arn't even using.

[shutUpAndTakeMyMoney]

Sony doesn't need more shooters. They need to buy an company to make rpgs so I don't need skyrim 2.

[andrewsqual]

If Microsoft buy them anyway, Abash, they will bleed them dry then discard them like a used tampon.
RIP Rare, Bungie, Lionhead, Ensemble Studios (Age of Empires) , Aces Studio (classic Flight Sim games).
For the love of God Insomniac Games, don't be shackled.
http://www.youtube.com/watc...

[SilentNegotiator]

Insomniac has really been slipping lately. (edit: Sony owns the R&C IP, nevermind) They should end all contracts with Insomniac ASAP and let other studios have a hand at Resistance and Ratchet and Clank.

"I wouldn't mind them somehow taking control of Spyro again somehow. Sony, Activision, and Insomniac need to talk. "
-
Activision OWNS Spyro. Insomniac would have nothing to do with such a negotiation.

[Larry L]

Just so everyone knows, Activision is NEVER giving up the Spyro brand. At least not in the near future, or at least not full rights. Because maybe as older gamers, we're ignorant to what's popular with little kid gamers (meaning 10-11 and under), but I recently read an article about how much money is being made with the Skylanders video game and toy tie-in franchise and it blew my mind. I've been seeing these displays everywhere for a couple years, and just thought it was some stupid lame new franchise, but I guess it's HUGE with the kiddies.

Now I honestly still don't know anything about Skylanders, but I see Spyro all the time on the displays, so obviously it's tied directly into Spyro in some way. Activision is ALL about the money, and with the amount of money being generated with Spyro by way of Skylanders, there's no way in gaming hell, anyone else is getting those rights.

[guitarded77]

Insomniac is kinda on a downward trend right now. FUSE is the next big thing from then, and I haven't heard much from gamers being interested. I've bought every Insomniac game this gen, and about 50% were good, the rest were mediocre or worse. Just my opinion, I'm sure someone will take it personally and tell me about how naive I am in the most polite way.

[kupomogli]

@Jinkies

Visceral Games will be ruined under EA by people like you who don't purchase the games because it's an EA published game, despite how good it may actually be.

If you haven't noticed, the budget that EA gives Visceral Games is a bit ridiculous and the quality of the games show. Too bad we have fanboys like you who avoid these games because of some biased opinion about the publisher.

Yes. A lot of studios have went under because of EA, but it wasn't really because of EA specifically. It's because the games they developed stopped selling. Why is EA going to keep a development studio that isn't turning a profit?

Sony, Nintendo, and Microsoft have closed down many studios and laid off many employees. You want to know why we don't hear about most of it? Because this is usually their own studios that they hired a number of people. Although just recently Sony closed down three of their studios. Liverpool Studios who developed some amazing games on the PSX closed down because the games they developed didn't sell well. Sony developers are given freedom with their projects, so I'm not sure if Liverpool wanted to continue making Wipeout or if it was Sony that wanted them to. Either way, the last few games in the series barely sold, so why should Sony continue to lose money by continuing their funding.

When EA shuts down a studio. Guess what happens. The same thing when any other developer shuts down a studio. These same people usually get hired by another studio. Or atleast potentially hired.

You don't hear people bit**ing that the Saints Row team is made up of a lot of former Rockstar employees. OMG. ROCKSTAR LAYS PEOPLE OFF AND FIRES THEM. I'M NOT BUYING GTA5!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

You people hating on EA when other companies do pretty much the exact same thing is hypocritical. If EA never bought the companies, they wouldn't have made as many games as they had because they wouldn't have had the backing, and most of them would have more than likely went bankrupt long ago. EA did nothing more than give these developers a much longer life than they would have had otherwise.

At the end of the day. These companies are businesses attempting to make money. Origin Systems, Bioware, Bullfrog, Psygnosis(Liverpool,) etc, didn't have to sell themselves to EA, Sony, whoever. They had the choice and they decided to sell their company for a certain sum of money.

[ScubbaSteve]

@kupomogli

Such a long paragraph and the only thing it reminded me to do was to not buy EA games. Sure I like some of the developers they've purchased in the past but my support for them doesn't outshine my fiery hot desire to see EA go out of business.

Short half Assed DLC
Fifa 13
Madden
Cutting content for Day 1 DLC
Online passes

Yea f those guys. I liked Westwood studios and command and conquer but those games just weren't good after being bought out by EA. That's not even the only developer that's fizzled out under EAs oversight either. Then lets look at origins and limiting where you can buy games, it sure doesn't seem like they want to broaden their market.

[Lvl_up_gamer]

@ kupomogli

I completely agree with you.

@ ScubbaSteve

Nobody is forcing you to buy DLC. That responsibility is on YOU not EA. If you don't like the length of the DLC at the price they are asking....then don't buy it.

Fifa 13 is the most realistic soccer game on the market and the highest reviewed by the industry. If you don't like it, go buy PES 13.

Show me any kind of PROOF that content was cut from any game so that it could be day 1 DLC. You are just speculating.

Online passes shouldn't affect you UNLESS you buy used or pirate. If you buy used and know about the online pass, then make sure you are getting a good deal on a used game. If not, then it's simply just better to buy new.

Games I loved this gen:

NHL series
Dead Space 1&2
Mass Effect 2&3
Dante's Inferno
Mirror's Edge
Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning
Battlefield series
Dragon Age
Crysis series
Fight Night series
NBA Jam
Rock Band

EA has given a wide assortment of games in so many genre's I highly doubt that ANYONE who is a gamer hasn't liked at lest 1 or 2 of these EA titles that claim they are EA haters.

[Jinkies]

@kupomogli

The only thing I got out of your rant was this

"Visceral Games will be ruined under EA by people like you who don't purchase the games because it's an EA published game, despite how good it may actually be."

Who said I don't buy them because it's EA, I bought Dead Space, I bought Dead Space 2 but after what EA has done to them and turned DS3 into a generic, over the top action game like what Capcom did with RE6 why would I buy it. It's called not sucking up to a developer when you know deep down they screwed up.

[kupomogli]

@jinkies

"but after what EA has done to them and turned DS3 into a generic, over the top action game like what Capcom did with RE6 why would I buy it."

What EA has done to them? Visceral Games is the one that changed the style of Dead Space 3. EA owns them, but they had nothing to do with that. If Visceral ruins their games EA isn't the reason behind it.

I know what you're talking about now. You're talking how EA sends their corporate leaders to supervise each game and give decisions based on their opinion rather than the opinion the designers had. They only do this after the first or second game, that way they can make sure to get one good game out then ruin the company. Because that's the way EA rolls, son.

You're a complete idiot if you think anyone but Visceral had any say of the change in Dead Space 3. Budget, time frame, etc. Those are things that corporate EA controls. They don't tell developers how to make their games.

But way to go being one of the many supporters of the EA hate train on the basis of nothing more than them being a company or the fact that it's popular to hate on EA.

[Jinkies]

@kupomogli

Your dulusional mate if you honestly think that EA dosen't have a say in the develoeprs they have under them then I pity you...I really do

EA has influenced Bioware, VG, DICE and even Insomniac...what they say goes.

[Imalwaysright]

"Visceral Games is the one that changed the style of Dead Space 3" Do you really think that EA doesnt demand certain features in the games made by their devs in order to meet their sales target? Are you really that naive? Every publisher does that.

Uncharted originally wasnt going to be a TPS but it was Sony, the publisher, that wanted Uncharted to be more realistic after seeing the success of shooters on the 360.

http://www.gamesradar.com/u...

And this is Sony, one of the few publishers out there that allows their devs to have creative freedom. Demons Souls, SoTC, HR, LBP, TLG, Sly... are a result of that freedom.

Cover system, infinite ammo and co-op in DS3 were most likely added to DS3 in order to meet the 5 million units sold wich is EA sales target. They saw the success of Gears and Uncharted and what better way to achieve it than copy those games?

[kupomogli]

So I shouldn't have said that publishers don't ever have a say in whatever because they do. The co op being in Dead Space 3 is because of EA, as EA has even said that there needs to be atleast some sort of online component in every single one of their games from now on.

But with Dead Space 3, it's still the same game, and the change to it I'm sure isn't because EA said do this or do that. Visceral is a competent developer who's made two great games in the Dead Space series and I'm sure it was Visceral that decided to branch out and do something new with the series, or otherwise have fan backlash for a second time that the game is too similar to the first title, just like they received with the second. The series even in the enclosed corridors has always been a survival horror/shooter, now there are some areas in the game that are going to be open and not so enclosed.

If you've seen the videos they're still going to be in enclosed areas, but also out in the open. But do you really want to be in a ship or ships the entire time once again for the third game as well?

I'm just saying it was a shooter already. EA didn't make it as such. Let's say EA told Visceral to change the location of the game. If EA told Visceral to do something other than being in a small ship the entire game on the third game, wouldn't it be something you agree with rather than be against? Or like I said above. Would you rather be in an enclosed space and feel like you're playing the exact same game for a third game in a row?

Only one month after Dead Space 3 releases, Army of Two the Devil's Cartel is released. There's your Gears of War clone. The series is better than Gears if you ask me, although that's a matter of opinion.

[sikbeta]

What would be the point of buying Insom now that are on their average state, rather than doing back in the PS2 days where Ratchet games were king?

Also Insomniac don't want to be bought by anyone...

[LOOK_AT_THIS_I]

You want proof of dlc cut from the game all you have to do is look for the sorry ass 100kb download for the maps/guns/characters. It's been plaguing this generation. You can't get much more proof to show someone if they can't comprehend that maps/modes/extras will ring in a hell of a lot higher than 100 kbs.

[Lvl_up_gamer]

@ LOOK_AT_THIS_I

You are simply generalizing (based on Capcoms history) that EA is doing it when you have absolutely ZERO proof or facts to substantiate your claims that EA is withholding content from games for day 1 dlc.

I asked you for PROOF that EA has withheld content from a game for Day 1 DLC.

NOW PROVIDE IT with some kind of source or stop generalizing and spreading misinformation.

[DragonKnight]

@kupmogli: The only thing I can say about all your seemingly pro-EA spiel is this. EA are one of the first publishers to begin making contracts with ridiculous clauses that force games to be made a certain way. I'm talking clauses like having a game get a metacritic score of at least 80 and having the game sell at least 1 million copies the first month. First of all, f*ck metacritic. They need to be taken down. Secondly, that kind of contract is purely about chance so the clauses are ridiculous.

These kinds of clauses force developers to do certain things they know will succeed based on the market, meaning less risks taken or less possibilities of new IP's. So screw EA and any developer that decided EA were worth doing business with. Nowadays, the best way to get interesting new content is either by going with Sony or going with a Kickstarter.

[-Alpha]

Ha, Activision is cleaning house with Spyro/Skylanders. They dont need Insomniac, and Insomniac would have never made money off of Spyro in 2012 like Activision is doing.

As much as I hate the deviation of Spyro in Activision's hands, you have to admit that they did a damn good job making the game financially successful.

[shivvy24]

their marketing team did a pro job on that part

[showtimefolks]

we been through this before sony wanted to buy insomniac but insomniac wanted to stay independent. they will still work for sony in some cases, they have more than one development team so i could see one team working on multiplatform while other continues to work on sony's platform

[MoveTheGlow]

Um, the article link is down... so, that's the comment I have about the article.

About this speculation, I have no clue why Sony would do that. Ratchet and Clank was obviously passed off from Insomniac to lesser companies - All 4 One was not enjoyable at all. Their new title looks like Yet Another Shooter With a Comic Style To It Part 401: This Time, It's Different. Resistance, while fun, isn't going to net a giant amount of cash without a drastic change.

For that to happen - not that it will, but for it to happen - I'd imagine that Sony either was shown something very new and very awesome, or they would refocus the company on something else entirely.

[Cam977]

Spyro should make a "proper" comeback. I want to see a game as memorable as the first 3, nothing more.

[remanutd55]

Resistance 4 needs to happen you hear me sony/Insomniac, better yet as ps4 launch title.

Oh and i forgot to add one important detail: Hale as main protagonist, thank you.

[Hanso]

would love to see Hale return in Resistnace 4 :D

[SyWolf]

How could Hale be the main protagonist in Resistance 4?

[KingofGambling]

hell yeah Resistance 4 on the PS4.

[Soldierone]

Not only that

-Creepieness of RFOM. The narrator, the bigger aliens, the grungy look.

-Bigger battles. I don't care about "personal battles" I want 30 vs 30 matches again!

[LOOK_AT_THIS_I]

^. This. I loved the 1st resistance. I wish they would have went back and made a patch for the controls to make it a little more modern style but it was the first FPS game that I enjoyed. The maps were great in that they adjusted size based on number of players.

If they do make another game resistance game I'd pick it up for next gen. They need to give it a rest for this gen.

[TotalHitman]

Insomniac have some great ideas, but their games always fall short of their potential. Resistance for example, could have been much better than it eventually ended up. I would like it if Sony did buy Insomniac.

[WeAreLegion]

You didn't play Resistance 3?

[Nodoze]

The best in the series by far. It was a REALLY great game and is highly underrated.

[TotalHitman]

I did actually. The ending felt rushed.

[WeAreLegion]

I would have to agree with that. The ending was rushed. Other than that, it was phenomenal!

[Athonline]

Am I the only one who found Resistance 2 the best in the series? 3 was solid, but the ending was rushed... plus I enjoyed R2 Multiplayer a lot more than 3.

[Ashriel]

"Fate all rests on Fuse."

Oh boy :/

[Megaton]

Meh. They wanted to get in bed with EA, let them suffer the full effect of that decision.

[animegamingnerd]

working with EA is the gaming industry is pretty much just like selling your soul to the devil

[torchic]

yeah, and with that I just don't understand why West and Zampella would do themselves a disservice and sign with EA. I will never understand that decision

[Athonline]

@Torchic
I doubt the decision was an easy one... but look at the industry now. All studios are "forced" to work with publishers to bear the increasingly costs. The only ones not working with publishers, are indie games who sell cheap, "small", less graphical-savy games... The industry as an industry sucks compare it's former "glory"....

[calis]

They wanted to do an IP that they owned, Sony doesn't do that. EA gave them the opportunity so they went for it. Can't blame them.

[SoundGamer]

What are you talking about? There are a lot of PlayStation exclusives that have been published by Sony yet are not Sony IPs.

[calis]

Like what? Especially recently?

I know Sly Cooper, Infamous, R&C, Resistance are all Sony owned and these were created when Sucker Punch (and obviously Insomniac) were 2nd party.
Heavenly Sword as well

[NonApplicable]

Pixlejunk, Metal Gear & a large amount of Japanese games aren't Sony owned IP. I'm sure there are more!

[calis]

When was the last time Metal Gear was published by Sony?

[porkChop]

I'd rather if they didn't buy them to be honest. Their games never live up to their potential. That money would be better spent on buying/creating an RPG studio to be completely honest, that's 1 genre that Sony hasn't really been involved with much this gen.

[Deusthousand]

Wow are you really saying R&C didnt live to its potential? The last installment was like playing a Dreamworks movie! Im insulted! And the RPG genre is on life support dude

[SamPao]

absolutely true

[NonApplicable]

Your insulted?

If you take everything on the internet this seriously, it's a miracle your still alive.

[cloud 279]

I agree with you porkchop on this. Sony shouldn't buy Insomniac Games, and spend time in creating RPG games. But Sony should keep good relationship with Insomniac, they do need each other.

[Nodoze]

Sony should buy Level 5. THAT would be a GREAT purchase.

[SoundGamer]

Level 5 has too many ties with Square-Enix and Nintendo for that to happen.

[porkChop]

Would be awesome if that happened.

[Oh_Yeah]

Sony should buy arcane.

[DragonKnight]

Sony should buy FromSoft.

[BitbyDeath]

Don't know why people are hating on Insomniac, they had 1 really bad game (fuse).

The others Spyro, Ratchet and Clank and Resistance 1 were awesome. R2, & 3 (to some degree) weren't very good either but still a hell of a lot better than Fuse.

Insomniac are really talented and have won multiple awards for being one of the best small companies to work for in America.

[KMCROC]

How do you know Fuse is bad have u played ,do you own it,where did you buy it , when was it released . cause dam to pass Judgement on something you have not played or own seem kind of childish.

[Soldierone]

The game isn't even out yet lol So what EA took the color out, doesn't mean they ruined the entire game. It could still have some positive features that EA didn't get a chance to destroy....

Honestly I am still going to get it because Insomniac excels at storys and characters, which the game still seems to have.

[BitbyDeath]

Fuse doesn't even look like it was made by insomniac.
Insomniac games usually have a certain signature to them that tells you insomniac made this.

Maybe it's just me but it looks generic like anyone could have made it.

[AngelicIceDiamond]

Sony could buy out Insomniac but I'm sure at this point Insomni wants freedom. Free to do there own projects, I can't say Fuse is gonna be huge success but who knows it could be the next big thing.

I think Sony should leave them alone to do there own thing. from a multiplatform point of view.

[BanBrother]

It shouldn't really matter. Sony can still contract them for exclusive games.

Although..... If Sony buys them, they would receive the same 'special' treatment the other Sony studios get, and get to use much more powerful in-house engines. Imagine a Resistance with Killzone graphics?
Or Ratchet and Clank (which already looks amazing...at least the Insomniac ones)>

[DigitalRaptor]

I have a feeling that Insomniac's move to multiplatform development with FUSE will mirror Ninja Theory's move to multiplatform development with ENSLAVED (not a bad game, but not great either). I just don't think it will be as good, or as successful as any of their previous games.

OVERSTRIKE looked great and they ruined that with their focus testing and/or EA sticking their noses in. Heck, FUSE could be a good game, but it will still be too generic and I'll always be thinking about how much better it could have been if it was developed based on its initial promise. Let's hope that they decide to go back to making quirky games with real personality and attitude. Wonderful games like Ratchet & Clank: A Crack in Time.

Meanwhile, I'm predicting Bungie's new IP, DESTINY, to see huge success across all platforms and be something truly defining for the sci-fi genre.

[spicelicka]

Why didn't they just make a resistance-esque game? I don't know why they went with FUSE to attract xbox 360 owners. I would've loveddd resistance on xbox but i think sony has rights over that, so anything similar would've been great. FUSE looks very forced and doesn't show what Insomniac is known for.

[Braid]

If they're going to buy a studio, it needs to be Quantic Dream. I mean come on, those guys are rocking hard. Fahrenheit, Heavy Rain, Beyond, and God knows what future hits they'll bring to the industry. They've been very capable of using the PS3 hardware at its maximum as well. You lost Ninja Theory, at least don't lose these extremely talented guys.

[BigStef71]

Sony should buy both

[DeforMAKulizer]

The link is down.

Can anyone tell me what the article goes on about?

[Soldierone]

I can't read the link, its not working. However here is my view

Sony demonstrated why its good to be with them. Insomniac was afraid of "being tied down" and Sony said fine "go explore" there were no hard feelings of them doing it at all. IG got to explore, and Sony still stood there with them. IG learned developers like EA destroy games and take freedom away, since third parties prefer the safe route and not the "lets try something new" route Sony supports.

If anything Sony proved themselves, IG should see that, and let Sony buy them. Only thing I'd be scared of is watching what Sony did to Zipper. However with Sony you have freedom and you don't have to worry about distribution, so who cares if it isn't selling like a third party title.

I also agree above. Sony should buy more genre defining studios. They don't have a good RPG studio yet. Buy NIS :P

[shivvy24]

man if only IG got the same funding for R3 just like killzone did , damn !!!

[DeltaCanuckian]

Swap the funding of Killzone 3 and Resistance 3? Yeah, in hindsight that'd be great, but Resistance 2 didn't exactly warrant a big budget sequel, whereas Killzone 2 was one of the best shooters this console generation.

Instead of Resistance continuing to go down and Killzone going up, IG delivered the best entry in their series and Guerilla (I think in large part due to influence from Zipper) delivered a dumbed down version of KZ2.

[chasegarcia]

not worth it IMHO. Contract work would be better and less risky.

[americanGTA]

Insomniac was the reason I bought ps3 over 360

[shivvy24]

yea the moment the first ratchet ps3 title came out on ps3 i went to the shops and bought it with a new ps3 , i also bought resistance fom with it and damn did i make the right decision

[darx]

Is this article in response to the MS Epic buyout article. You know it is, how annoying!

[ajax17]

internal service error...

[KingKevo]

Same here. And there's no chached version on google too, but:
http://www.psu.com/forums/s...

[ajax17]

Thanks for that.

[Drainage]

Insomniac had a great start with the Resistance:FALL OF MAN. Their first signs of fail was when they lazied-out and didnt include MP online for the R&C games while also lowering the difficulty (Ps2 had MP online). After that, IG went into a downward spiral into mediocrity with R2, trying to make a Facebook game, and now Fuse.

[TheBatman_Fanatic]

Sony, buy them and make Insomniac make Resistance 4!

[gamern4g]

They are sharing market with MS, both of them wants something to own.

[chukamachine]

Really enjoyed the resistance games, and the 3rd is very underrated.

Trouble with the 3rd is the low rez, would love to see a resistance game in 1080p or just use the cryengine. I think it would look amazing with resistance.

[tigertron]

I wouldn't mind Sony buying Insomniac, it would be good for them. I also wouldn't mind if they bought Naughty Dog.

[stage88]

They already bought Naughty Dog.

[tigertron]

You're right, my bad. For some reason I had it in my head it was a "second party" studio like Insomniac.

[IWentBrokeForGaming]

I personally wouldn't buy them out because I feel their games/franchises as of this gen are pretty mediocore at best... BEST game I played from them this gen hands down was R1!

For a "first party" developer also... I feel they really didn't do enough with the amazing hardwear they were given either!

[Picnic]

I've never liked Insomniac very much personally.
As providers of multi genre games Rare were better.
And as providers of adventure games, Naughty Dog are better.
I wouldn't buy them out. If you're going to buy anyone out these days make it a studio who is exceptionally skilled in 1 particular genre - there's too much gaming choice to buy a studio that fulfils a middle ground.

[Heavenly King]

Insomniac games want to remain independent. So no one will buy them. Sony already tried to do this, but Ted Price does not want to.

[CanadianTurtle]

Sony said they've put the Resistance series to rest for now. But if they really do buy out Insomniac and I hear the slightest rumors of a Resistance 4, I'm going to cry of happiness.

Note: I'm probably the biggest fan of the Resistance franchise on this website. I LOVE the Resistance games.

[arbitor365]

it probably would be a good idea. Insomniac (who is my favorite developer ever, by the way), hasn't been doing so hot lately, and I dont have alot of hope for "fuse" after they ruined the art style and give it a crappy name. Insomniac needs to get their shit together.

[M2-]

Can a company (Sony) whose credit rating was cut to the level of "Junk" status [1] and whose net worth went from $200 billion to $20 billion [2] really afford to make an unnecessary purchase of a company that they already have a good relationship with?

1. http://ign.com/articles/201...
2. http://www.bloomberg.com/ne...