Shuhei Yoshida, head of Sony Worldwide Studios, has admitted he was greatly saddened by Insomniac Games’ recent revelation that it aims to pursue multiplatform development.
The company will instead be developing games for both PS3 and Xbox 360, and has signed an agreement with Electronic Arts to release a new IP for both platforms in the near future. Prior to this move, Insomniac developed content exclusively for the PlayStation brand, including popular IPs such as Resistance and Ratchet & Clank.
"We grew up together," Yoshida commented. "We had a long-lasting partnership with the studio’s management team, and I personally was the producer in Japan for Spyro the Dragon and Rachet & Clank."
Apparently, Sony had been aware of Insomniac’s desire to branch out on to other platforms for a couple of years. "They want to reach the people they haven’t been able to," he continued, "so it was sad to hear a couple of years ago what their intent was, but as we are growing, Insomniac is growing too"
"And the studio has its own ambition, so I totally understand, and I am very happy how they approached the announcement. They made sure that people know they are still working with us."
Still, every cloud has a silver lining as they say, and Yoshida certainly saw the positive side to Insomniac’s decision:
"When you think about it, Insomniac is making multiplatform games. So PS3 owners should be happy because they are getting more Insomniac games as the studio hires more staff to develop more games."