Insomniac Games

Markus Smith (creative director)Brian Allgeier (creative lead; *Ratchet & Clank*)
Brian Horton (creative director)
Bryan Intihar (creative director, producer)
Jon Paquette (lead writer)

### Notable products

*Spyro* series (1998 - 2000)
*Ratchet & Clank* series
*Resistance* series
*Spider-Man* series
*Wolverine*

### Number of employees

275+ (2017)
~400 (2021)

**Insomniac Games** is an American game developer based in Burbank, California. It was founded by Ted Price in 1994, and originally went by the name **Xtreme Software** until 1995. The studio is best known for its work on the *Ratchet & Clank* series and working as a second-party developer for Sony Interactive Entertainment for over two decades; in 2019, the studio was acquired by Sony into becoming part of PlayStation Studios.

Insomniac is responsible for several critically and commercially titles during its partnership with Sony, including the *Spyro the Dragon* trilogy, the aforementioned *Ratchet & Clank* series and the *Resistance* trilogy. After 2011, with the release of *Resistance 3*, Insomniac began to develop games for other platforms outside the PlayStation brand, though the studio also worked on additional games for *Ratchet & Clank*.

The studio released its first licensed game, *Marvel's Spider-Man*, in 2018. The game's critical and commercial success was followed with Sony acquiring Insomniac in 2019. Following the acquisition, Insomniac resumed working on additional titles for the *Spider-Man* and *Ratchet & Clank* franchises, as well as further partnerships with Marvel.

Insomniac Games has been acclaimed as a game developer for its high-quality titles that prioritize fun and gameplay, and some of the studio's games won multiple accolades and were commercial successes. It was additionally praised for being one of the best working places for young people in America.

## History

### 2019-current: Sony acquisition, later Marvel projects

"*Insomniac is the perfect fit for Worldwide Studios. They bring quality and innovation, the two things that we lean into every time and all the time. I can’t say enough good things about Ted and his team. We’re just super delighted.*"
―Shawn Layden, 2019.
#### 2023 ransomware breach

In December 2023, a hacker group called Rhysida claimed to have hacked into Insomniac Games servers and obtained multiple data files belonging to the studio, including information about upcoming game releases, and sensitive employee data; the group demanded ransom of $2 million in Bitcoin to be fulfilled within a week-long deadline. In a statement to IGN, Sony confirmed the data breach, and launched an investigation into the incident. A week later, on December 19th, the Rhysida group released the leaked Insomniac Games data, with over 1.3 million files containing information on released projects such as *Spider-Man 2* and *Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart*, footage and data of *Wolverine*, upcoming release lineup, internal Sony strategy and data information, and sensitive information about Insomniac employees.

Several news outlets, including Polygon, noted the scope of the leak, with Polygon's Oli Welsh calling it a "devastating breach" and describing it as "perhaps even more impactful" than the leak sustained by Rockstar Games' *Grand Theft Auto VI*. Multiple figures and companies within the gaming industry offered their support to Insomniac, including Wushu Studios, Remedy Entertainment, *God of War* director Cory Barlog and Naughty Dog co-president Neil Druckmann.

*Bloomberg* noted that the ransomware hack impacted hundreds of former and current employees, and that the scope of the stolen data neared 1.7 terabytes. The outlet reported that rumors of lay-offs within Insomniac were circulating for several months at the time of the hack, and the data breach confirmed these plans; Insomniac scheduled a staff meeting for December 21 to address the issue, but had to reschedule it to early 2024 due to holidays.

Insomniac released a statement addressing the cyberattack, acknowledging the stolen data and thanking its community for support.

## Relationship with other studios

### PlayStation Studios

Insomniac Games is a subsidiary of PlayStation Studios since 2019.

## Games

### Cancelled

* *Monster Knight*
* *Girl with a Stick*
* *1080 Pinball*

## References

1. ↑ https://insomniac.games/a-new-look-for-insomniac/
2. ↑ https://interactive.libsyn.com/oddworld-with-lorne-lanning
3. ↑ https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/why-sony-interactive-bought-spider-man-maker-insomniac-games-1233018
4. ↑ https://www.ign.com/articles/hackers-reportedly-breach-spider-man-2-dev-insomniac-release-wolverine-and-staff-data
5. ↑ https://www.ign.com/articles/insomniac-hackers-release-stolen-data-leak-wolverine-videos-future-projects-and-more
6. ↑ https://www.theverge.com/2023/12/19/24007570/insomniac-games-hack-wolverine-x-men-ryhsida
7. ↑ https://www.polygon.com/24007591/insomniac-games-hack-wolverine-spider-man-3-data
8. ↑ https://www.ign.com/articles/video-game-developers-send-messages-of-support-to-insomniac-following-release-of-stolen-data
9. ↑ https://www.pushsquare.com/news/2023/12/devs-weigh-in-on-disgraceful-insomniac-games-data-breach
10. ↑ Schreier, Jason. PlayStation Employees Fear Identity Theft After Massive Data Breach, *Bloomberg*. December 22, 2023.
11. ↑ https://www.ign.com/articles/insomniac-games-shares-a-message-regarding-the-cyberattack-like-logan-insomniac-is-resilient

***Spyro the Dragon***
*Spyro the Dragon* - *Spyro 2: Ripto's Rage* - *Spyro: Year of the Dragon*

***Ratchet & Clank***
*Ratchet & Clank* - *Ratchet & Clank: Going Commando* - *Ratchet & Clank: Up Your Arsenal* - *Ratchet: Deadlocked* - *Ratchet & Clank Future: Tools of Destruction* - *Ratchet & Clank Future: Quest for Booty* - *Ratchet & Clank Future: A Crack in Time* - *Ratchet & Clank: Into the Nexus* - *Ratchet & Clank* (2016) - *Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart**Ratchet & Clank: All 4 One* - *Ratchet & Clank: Full Frontal Assault*

***Resistance***
*Resistance: Fall of Man* - *Resistance 2* - *Resistance 3*

***Marvel's***
*Spider-Man* (*The City that Never Sleeps*) - *Spider-Man: Miles Morales* - *Spider-Man 2* - *Wolverine*