Insomniac Games, Inc.
Overview
Founded in 1994, Insomniac Games is an independent game developer based in Burbank, California. Prior to starting Insomniac Games, CEO/President
Ted Price spent a few years as controller of a start-up medical company, where he decided that life in games must be easier. (He was wrong…) Fortunately, he found two very talented programmers,
Alex and
Brian Hastings, and together they laid the foundation for the company’s first success,
Disruptor.
In 12 years, Insomniac Games has sold more than 20 million console videogames worldwide, and attributes its success to a philosophy based on five key principles.
All of Insomniac Games’ titles have been developed exclusively for PS one and the PlayStation 2 computer entertainment system. Insomniac Games has produced two of PlayStation’s most recognizable franchises:
Ratchet & Clank and the first three
Spyro the Dragon games.
Insomniac Games first received worldwide attention upon releasing Spyro the Dragon in 1998. Spyro the Dragon, Spyro 2: Ripto’s Rage (1999) and Spyro: Year of the Dragon (2000) combined to sell more than 12 million units globally. Prior to launching the Spyro franchise, Insomniac Games released Disruptor in 1996. It was a critical success, winning several industry awards for “Best First Person Shooter.”
Ratchet & Clank (2002) and Ratchet & Clank: Going Commando (2003), both developed for PlayStation 2, have garnered seven PlayStation 2 “Game of the Year” awards and 11 “Best in Genre” awards from media, not including “Readers’/Editors’ Choice” awards, recognition from leading industry organizations and additional media accolades for outstanding technical achievements. Further, Ratchet & Clank had the unique distinction of being the first western title to be bundled with Sony hardware in Japan. Ratchet & Clank: Up Your Arsenal, the third installment to the Ratchet & Clank series, launched in November 2004 and became one of PlayStation 2's all-time highest-rated games. Ratchet: Deadlocked, featuring all-new gameplay enhancements and a different look for the hero, was released in October 2005.
As of 2006, Insomniac Games has grown to 145 hard-working, creative souls and remains completely independent. However, the company works very closely with both
Sony Computer Entertainment and
Mark Cerny of
Cerny Games. Sony publishes and distributes Insomniac’s games worldwide and provides fantastic support in all areas – production (including testing and localization), marketing, and public relations. Mark Cerny is a design consultant and contributes to various design aspects of Insomniac’s titles.
In June 2008, the company announced plans to open a new studio in North Carolina by January 2009.
Trivia
Before shipping its first game, Insomniac used different names before settling on the current one. They previously used Planet X Software, Outzone Software and Xtreme Software to refer to the studio.
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