Insomniac Games, Inc. is an American video game developer based in Burbank, California, and part of PlayStation Studios. It was founded in 1994 by Ted Price as Xtreme Software, and was renamed Insomniac Games a year later. The company is most known for developing several early PlayStation mascots, Spyro the Dragon, Ratchet and Clank, as well as the Resistance franchise, 2014's Sunset Overdrive and the Marvel's Spider-Man series with Marvel Games. In 2019, the studio was acquired by Sony Interactive Entertainment, becoming a part of SIE Worldwide Studios (now known as PlayStation Studios).
The company's first project was Disruptor, for PlayStation, whose poor sales almost led to the company's bankruptcy. Insomniac's next project was Spyro the Dragon, a successful video game that spawned two sequels within two years. Insomniac closely collaborated with Sony Computer Entertainment (later renamed Sony Interactive Entertainment) and created two game franchises, Ratchet & Clank, and Resistance. The two franchises proved to be both a critical and financial success for the company. The company began work on its first multiplatform game Fuse in 2013 (with Electronic Arts as its publisher), but the game turned out to become one of Insomniac's worst-reviewed games.
Since 2014, Insomniac has actively expanded its portfolio of games. The company worked with Microsoft Studios on 2014's Sunset Overdrive, partnered with GameTrust to release the underwater Metroidvania game Song of the Deep, and released several mobile games and virtual reality projects. In 2016, Insomniac released a remake of the first Ratchet & Clank, and in 2018 released its first licensed title, Marvel's Spider-Man for the PlayStation 4; an additional game, Marvel's Spider-Man: Miles Morales, was released for the PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5 in 2020, this was followed by Marvel's Spider-Man 2 on the PlayStation 5 in 2023. The studio's most recent project is Marvel's Wolverine for the PlayStation 5.
Before 2019, Insomniac remained as an independent studio working for Sony and other publishers such as Microsoft, EA, and Oculus. In August 2019, Sony announced it had agreed to acquire Insomniac as the 14th internal studio within SIE Worldwide Studios. Over the years, Insomniac Games has received considerable recognition from critics as an acclaimed video game developer. It was named the twentieth-best video game developer by IGN, and one of the best places to work in America by the Society for Human Resource Management.
History
Founding and Disruptor (1994–1996)
Insomniac Games was founded by Ted Price, who was determined to work in the video game industry since the release of Atari 2600 in 1977, when he was nine years old. The company was incorporated on February 28, 1994.
Price was joined by Alex Hastings, his fellow graduate and an expert in computer programming, in June 1994. Hastings' brother Brian Hastings joined Insomniac shortly afterwards. The studio was named "Xtreme Software" for a year but in 1995 it was forced to rename itself by another company with the same name. The studio shortlisted "The Resistance Incorporated", "Ragnarok", "Black Sun Software", "Ice Nine" and "Moon Turtle" before choosing the name "Insomniac Games". According to Price, the company chose this name because "it suddenly makes sense", even though it was not their first choice.
Shortly after the company's establishment, it began developing its first project. The team took inspirations from the popular Doom, and hoped to capitalize upon the industry's excitement for a first-person shooter. The team lacked experience and considered developing a "Doom clone". The game was developed for the Panasonic 3DO because its developer kit was inexpensive, and the team had high hopes for the console. Using a time frame of one month, the team developed a functional gameplay demo for the game. It was pitched to various publishers and was later shown to Mark Cerny, an executive producer from Universal Interactive Studios, who was impressed by the team's efforts. Universal published the game and helped with funding and marketing. Universal helped the game's development and cutscenes, and hired actors to film real-time sequences. Catherine Hardwicke was hired to lead production design, and inspirations were taken from Warhawk.
Cerny gave input and feedback on the game's level-design. However, the 3DO did not perform as they had expected, and Universal suggested that the team should switch to Sony Computer Entertainment's PlayStation to increase sales of the game. The game originally ran on a custom engine developed by Alex Hastings, and was upgraded and converted for the PlayStation within a month. The debut title was called Disruptor, and was released worldwide in November 1996.
Disruptor was released to positive critical reception, and was named "Dark Horse of the Year" by various gaming publications. John Romero, founder of Doom developer id Software praised the game. Insomniac considered Disruptor a lesson about video game development. According to Price, it was "the best game that nobody ever heard of". With little marketing and advertisement, the game was a commercial failure for Insomniac. Despite the game's poor performance, Universal continued to partner with Insomniac for its next game. The team's morale was low; they decided to develop something new instead of a sequel to Disruptor.
Spyro the Dragon (1996–2000)
At that time, the demographic for the PlayStation shifted, as more children and teenagers started to use the console. As a result, the team decided not to make another violent game like Disruptor and instead develop a family-friendly game that would be suitable for every member of a family, regardless of their age. The family game market was dominated by Sony's competitor Nintendo with games like Super Mario 64, while the PlayStation had no similar exclusives. Cerny pushed Insomniac Games to develop a game with a mascot and mass appeal. Craig Stitt, an environment artist of Disruptor, proposed that the game's theme and story should revolve around an anthropomorphic dragon. At the same time, Alex Hastings began developing an engine that specialized in games with panoramic view, which is suitable for open world games. The engine allowed more gameplay features including the ability for the dragon to glide through air. Spyro the Dragon was released in late 1998.
The game received critical acclaim upon launch and received awards from publications. Sales of the game were relatively low initially, but climbed after Christmas that year, and overall sales of the game exceeded two million. The team was expanded to 13 staff members. Because of Spyro the Dragons success, the studio was requested to develop a sequel for it. The development of Spyro 2: Ripto's Rage! began shortly after the launch of Spyro the Dragon. The team considered developing the sequel a challenge for them; they had to develop new ideas to "revolutionize" the franchise within a short time. The team brainstormed ideas but later chose to expand a mini-game from the original Spyro the Dragon, which they thought had offered a different experience from Spyro. The team designed a mature story and advanced cinematics for the game. It met its target release window, and was released in late 1999. Hastings was worried about the release because the game's development cycle was rushed and truncated.
The studio was asked to develop the third installment in the Spyro the Dragon series upon the release of Ripto's Rage!. To make the game more varied than its predecessors, the team introduced more special moves for Spyro the Dragon and more playable characters. The dragon's personality was made more approachable for players. The company struggled to create new ideas for the sequel. During the game's development, the team expanded to about 20 to 25 people. Brian Allgeier, who would later become Insomniac's games' director, joined the studio at that time. Spyro: Year of the Dragon was released worldwide in late 2000. After releasing three games in three years, the team decided to move on for a new project that had new original characters. Year of the Dragon is the last Insomniac Games-developed Spyro game. This was the end of Insomniac Games' partnership with Universal as the team at Insomniac started to work directly to develop games for the PlayStation consoles.
Ratchet & Clank (2000–2005)
In 2000, Sony released its successor to the PlayStation, the PlayStation 2. Insomniac's ideas for its first PlayStation 2 project included Monster Knight, a concept that was designed in 1999 but the game did not get beyond its planning stage. The canceled project was revealed 13 years after the game's conception. The second title was Girl with a Stick, which took inspirations from The Legend of Zelda and Tomb Raider. It was intended as a serious game, and to prove Insomniac's ability to create games other than platformers. Insomniac spent six months on the project, developing several prototypes and a functional demo. However, most staff members, beside Price, were not passionate about the project, and thought it was "one-dimensional". Sony thought the game would not find a market, and recommended Insomniac to "play to [their] strengths". As a result, Girl with a Stick was scrapped. According to Price, Girl with a Stick is a lesson for Insomniac and its first failure.
A few weeks after the cancellation of Girl with a Stick, Brian Hastings proposed that the company should work on a space adventure game with a science fiction theme. The game originally revolved around a reptilian alien with weapons traveling across planets. The reptile character evolved into a caveman, and eventually became a fictional creature called a "Lombax". They named the creature Ratchet and designed a robot companion called Clank for Ratchet. Inspirations for the game were drawn from manga, Conker's Bad Fur Day and from Spyro the Dragon. To differentiate the project from Insomniac's previous projects, it made the game more complex and included shooting and role-playing gameplay elements. The team was excited about this project; however, the company was unable to develop a demo for the game because it did not have a suitable engine. As a result, it developed "Art Nuevo de Flash Gordon", a Metropolis diorama, for Sony, which decided to help the game's funding and publishing. Jason Rubin, on behalf of Naughty Dog, lent Insomniac the engine used in Jak and Daxter: The Precursor Legacy. The game's title was Ratchet & Clank; it was originally to be a launch title for the PlayStation 2 but it was delayed by two years and was released in November 2002. It was a critical success.
Five months before the launch of Ratchet & Clank, Sony approved the development of its sequel. Insomniac hoped to bring new elements to the franchise; it received feedback from players and improved some features of Ratchet & Clank. About a year later, Ratchet & Clank: Going Commando was released to critical acclaim, at which time Insomniac had finished the prototype of its next game, Ratchet & Clank: Up Your Arsenal, which introduced a multiplayer mode and expanded upon Going Commandos arenas. Alex Hastings continued to optimize the engine and increase its processing power to fine-tune the game. The sales of Up Your Arsenal were considerably higher than those of its predecessors; it was the highest-rated game in the franchise's history.