As Gamescom 2019 raises its curtains, game news begins to spill out. One of the biggest announcements made on the first day of the European gaming expo was an industry-related one. After years of collaborations between Sony and Insomniac Games, it’s been revealed that Sony is set to acquire the studio in full. Insomniac Games is known for creating PlayStation exclusive series like Ratchet and Clank, Spyro the Dragon, and most recently, Spider-Man for PlayStation 4. From now on, Insomniac will be a first party developer as part of Sony Worldwide Studios.

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[EmulateLife]

Since it seems to be one big studio grab after another, I wouldn't be surprised if Sony also makes moves to acquire Naughty Dog considering that almost every games they developed was a Playstation exclusive.

Sony's already acquired Naughty Dog.

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Actually Sony acquired Naughty Dog in 2001 https://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/91213/Sony_Acquires_Naughty_Dog.php

 

[FAST6191]

What is Sony's history with buyouts like this? Are they an EA/Ubisoft style run them into the ground? Nintendo style incompetence? Square Enix style mishandling? Microsoft style 50/50 shot?

I couldn't even remember any previous Sony efforts here in recent times. Went looking and Killzone and Horizon Zero Dawn devs Guerrilla games, Infamous and Sly Cooper devs Sucker Punch productions, LittleBigPlanet devs Media Molecule, World Rally Championship devs were later set to make Motorstorm and Drive Club before being shuttered, Zipper Interactive who made Socom, Twisted Metal devs Incognito.
Most of those seemed to limp on for about 10 years before being shuttered or becoming shadows (sometimes long before being shuttered) but at this point we are looking at 2000s era sony bringing us to the 2010s so a somewhat different company and landscape.

 

[pedro702]

What is Sony's history with buyouts like this? Are they an EA/Ubisoft style run them into the ground? Nintendo style incompetence? Square Enix style mishandling? Microsoft style 50/50 shot?

I couldn't even remember any previous Sony efforts here in recent times. Went looking and Killzone and Horizon Zero Dawn devs Guerrilla games, Infamous and Sly Cooper devs Sucker Punch productions, LittleBigPlanet devs Media Molecule, World Rally Championship devs were later set to make Motorstorm and Drive Club before being shuttered, Zipper Interactive who made Socom, Twisted Metal devs Incognito.
Most of those seemed to limp on for about 10 years before being shuttered or becoming shadows (sometimes long before being shuttered) but at this point we are looking at 2000s era sony bringing us to the 2010s so a somewhat different company and landscape.

how is nintendo style incompetence? lol

nintendo rarely ever buys a studio, they basically just contract them, or help funding them somewhat, i only recall nintendo buying monolith soft for xenoblade, all other studios they either help funding or just still to this day contract them to make games for them.

 

[Shadowghul91]

I dont think that switch users will loose anything i think its just a mrketing thing, microsoft is doing ori and shit for the Switch and Sony will be like uhm yeah ok then youll get ratchet and clank from us yaaaay so much probs for sony xD

 

[FAST6191]

how is nintendo style incompetence? lol

nintendo rarely ever buys a studio, they basically just contract them, or help funding them somewhat, i only recall nintendo buying monolith soft for xenoblade, all other studios they either help funding or just still to this day contract them to make games for them.

I have yet to see a Nintendo acquisition or "might as well be an acquisition" go on to achieve greatness. They usually then just languish in mediocrity.

 

[kumikochan]

Well that is a serious sad day for gaming in general seeing Insomniac was releasing more and more titles on pc wich they never did and started doing recently but i guess that will be a thing of the past now. Well for now atleast seeing PC future wise is going to be the dominant platform gaming wise since it is already heading that way wich you can notice by all the ports we're getting and even ports from studio's that used to be console exclusives and optimisation being way better than it was 10 years ago

 

[Paulsar99]

Not surprised though since spiderman was a huge hit for insomniac and they don't want the devs to make superhero games on any other platform especially ms.

 

[Essasetic]

Welp, there goes Spider-Man coming PC.

Speaking of which, maybe wait a few more years and we may have a functional PS4 emulator.

 

[pedro702]

I have yet to see a Nintendo acquisition or "might as well be an acquisition" go on to achieve greatness. They usually then just languish in mediocrity.

like i said monolith soft is doing great, the rest of studios that make games for them arent aquisitions at all, nintendo does not own them just hires them, ever since snes and n64 days with rare, nintendo funds their studios, doesnt buy them, that is the reason you dont see nintendo aquisitions lol they dont do them often, heck even retro studios wasnt aquired, nintendo just help them funding the studio so they didnt bought them after.

 

[Xzi]

I have yet to see a Nintendo acquisition or "might as well be an acquisition" go on to achieve greatness. They usually then just languish in mediocrity.

I'd argue that their partnership with Platinum defies that trend. I'm looking forward to Astral Chain more than I was for just about any other Switch game in the last few years.

like i said monolith soft is doing great, the rest of studios that make games for them arent aquisitions at all, nintendo does not own them just hires them, ever since snes and n64 days with rare, nintendo funds their studios, doesnt buy them, that is the reason you dont see nintendo aquisitions lol they dont do them often, heck even retro studios wasnt aquired, nintendo just help them funding the studio so they didnt bought them after.

Yeah I somehow forgot about Retro Studios. Heresy considering that Metroid Prime is one of the best FPS trilogies of all time. Hopefully MP4 lives up to that legacy too.

 

[FAST6191]

like i said monolith soft is doing great, the rest of studios that make games for them arent aquisitions at all, nintendo does not own them just hires them, ever since snes and n64 days with rare, nintendo funds their studios, doesnt buy them, that is the reason you dont see nintendo aquisitions lol they dont do them often, heck even retro studios wasnt aquired, nintendo just help them funding the studio so they didnt bought them after.

So from Xenosaga and Baiten Kaitos as an independent to Xenoblade yawnicles?

I'd argue that their partnership with Platinum defies that trend. I'm looking forward to Astral Chain more than I was for just about any other Switch game in the last few years.

Is that a particularly high bar?

 

[pedro702]

Welp, Spyro remastered will probably be the last game we'll see from them on a non Sony platform.

For those complaining about PC releases. Maybe wait a few more years and we may have a functional PS4 emulator.

spyro is not owned by insomniac since ps2 days, they sold their rights for money to activision, spyro has nothing to do with insomiac , they have no control over them at all.

 

[Deleted member 388531]

Rest in peace any hope of the R&C games getting ported to PC.

 

[Teletron1]

Since it seems to be one big studio grab after another, I wouldn't be surprised if Sony also makes moves to acquire Naughty Dog considering that almost every games they developed was a Playstation exclusive.

I thought Sony bought them back in 01 thats why they work in house

 

[pedro702]

So from Xenosaga and Baiten Kaitos as an independent to Xenoblade yawnicles?


Is that a particularly high bar?

just like i said that is basicaly the only aquisition nintendo has done to this day lol, so your saying oh nintendo aquisitions dont do anything remarcable, how can you base a sample on one studio? because nintendo never bought anything else lol, therefore you cant make a sample of a single case and call it nintendo imcompetence, and sony and microsfot wishes many of their aquired studios were doing as well as monolith soft lol, while they basicaly do one game they sell decent number and get good crits so yes it isnt a failure.

 

[Essasetic]

spyro is not owned by insomniac since ps2 days, they sold their rights for money to activision, spyro has nothing to do with insomiac , they have no control over them at all.

Oh I see. Got confused between devs then. My bad!

 

[Xzi]

Is that a particularly high bar?

Somewhat high between SMO, SMM2, BotW, and SSBU. The quality of the new Fire Emblem also surprised me. The bar is only a little bit higher for PS4 games, and that's only because I'm a big fan of Soulsborne games/Marvel IPs. This console generation has been relatively light on 'must-buy' exclusives overall.

 

[raxadian]

Looks like I will have to get a PS5...

 

[EmulateLife]

Rest in peace any hope of the R&C games getting ported to PC.

That wasn't going to happen anyway unless Sony allows it. Sony owns Ratchet & Clank not Insomniac. If somehow we heard news that "Microsoft bought Insomniac" today instead of Sony, you still wouldn't get Ratchet & Clank on PC.

 

[Xzi]

Looks like I will have to get a PS5...

It'll be years before PS5's library justifies purchasing the console, but I'm just hoping it'll allow us to play all PS4 games at 60 FPS. That would make it worth a purchase at launch.