Insomniac Games
Jump to navigation
Jump to search
| Insomniac Games | ||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ||||||||||||||||||||
|
Insomniac Games, Inc. is a first-party video game development studio founded by Ted Price as Xtreme Software in 1994, and was renamed Insomniac Games in the following year. The studio is notable for creating the first three Spyro the Dragon games, the Ratchet & Clank, Resistance, and Marvel's Spider-Man series for PlayStation consoles. In 2019, Insomniac Games was acquired by Sony Interactive Entertainment, becoming a part of PlayStation Studios.
Why They Have the Courage to Dream
- They created the beloved Spyro and Ratchet & Clank franchises.
- Most of their games have been well received by gamers and critics alike, with Ratchet & Clank: Up Your Arsenal and Spyro: Year of the Dragon in particular amassing critical acclaim. Even their first game, Disruptor, is considered one of the best Doom clones on the PlayStation.
- Their games have great stories that feature many memorable characters and have some great humor.
- They have a close relationship with Naughty Dog, with whom they share technology with. At one point they even worked in the same building.
- For the original Spyro trilogy, Insomniac used a rendering technique that reduces the polygon count of objects, enemies, and the environment the further away they are, instead of relying on distance fog.
- Their games have incredibly fun gameplay.
- Their games are well-optimized for the console they're on. Even if they use a lot of particle effects, the game's frame rate rarely drops (even if they did, they're barely noticeable).
- Insomniac's CEO, Ted Price, believes that trust and honest communication are essential to game development, and he views game design as a social process. The company also understands why new intellectual properties (or IPs) are important. Their track record of well-received titles proves this philosophy works.
- After the first Ratchet & Clank game received backlash over Ratchet being a selfish, abrasive, and unlikeable jerkass, the team changed the character's personality and voice actor in the sequel. This shows that Insomniac is willing to listen to criticism from the gaming community and make the necessary changes (unlike Naughty Dog).
- Also, after the failure of Fuse, the studio decided to stick to what they knew: light-hearted, colorful, cartoony shooters with creative and over-the-top weapons.
- They have made what many consider to be the best Spider-Man game ever made, despite having no prior experience working with licensed games. This Spider-Man title is considered canon to Marvel Comics!
- Tom Holland (MCU's Peter Parker) loves the game so much that he adds references and moves from the game in his Spider-Man movies.
- In light of the #puddlegate "controversy" surrounding Spider-Man, a patch was announced that included, among other things, puddle stickers for Photo Mode. Another team member tweeted that they take feedback seriously, all as a fun little "Take that!" towards the people who blew the whole #puddlegate "controversy" out of proportion.
- Rather than take advantage of the holidays, Insomniac gave Spider-Man players the Sam Raimi "Webbed Suit" free of charge instead of selling it in an act of goodwill.
- Unlike Naughty Dog, they avoid crunch in their work many times and despite this, they release their games in time and the quality of their games ends up being great, such as when making Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart and making Spider-Man: Miles Morales at the same time and both ended up being system sellers, also they had to change the final boss in Spider-Man to avoid crunch and the final boss became better than expected.
Bad Qualities
- After Ratchet And Clank: A Crack In Time, the series somewhat went downhill due to Insomniac trying to change the formula of the series by adding new gimmicks such as tower defense gameplay and co-op. The titles also got shorter and were priced at $40 or cheaper. After the re-imagining for the PlayStation 4 (which was good and not a disappointment that was rushed out the door to meet a deadline like Into The Nexus), the series went on hiatus, so Insomniac could focus on other projects. Fortunately, the franchise is officially returning to its glory with Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart.
- Fuse, their first multiplatform game, is a big flop due to focus testing and executive meddling on EA's part.
- One of their artists mocked a female artist for their fan design of Lady from Devil May Cry and called her "transphobic".
Recognition
Insomniac Games has been recognized by The Society of Human Resource Management as one of the best companies in America to work for. They also became responsible for what is currently Sony Interactive Entertainment's fastest selling 1st party title to date.
Comments
Loading comments...