Despite not being at Gamescom, the announcement that Sony was acquiring Spider-Man developer Insomniac Games was shocker (along with the news that it sold over 13 million copies as of July 28th). One of the biggest questions to emerge from this development is what will happen to Sunset Overdrive. Will it come to PlayStation? Sony Worldwide Studios chairman Shawn Layden isn’t quite sure.
Speaking to The Hollywood Reporter, Layden weighed in on the open world shooter franchise. “That was a great experience for Insomniac and they learned a lot through that, as well. As far as the IP itself, we really haven’t turned over the files on that one to see what that actually means, to be honest. We like what they’ve been doing in the Spider-Man franchise and things like Ratchet & Clank are certainly vital series in the present and future. That’s what we’re concentrating on.”
So on the one hand, it seems that Sony is indeed focusing on Insomniac’s key successes like Spider-Man and Ratchet and Clank. This is good news for the PlayStation 5 which will need a bevy of high profile titles in the future. On the other hand, even if Insomniac owns the Sunset Overdrive IP, it doesn’t necessarily mean that a sequel will be coming any sooner now that the studio is owned by Sony.
As always time will tell. Stay tuned for more details especially in the coming year as Sony reveals more about its next console generation.