Sony Purchases Spider-Man Developer Insomniac Games

Releasing a little under a year ago, while Spider-Man on the PS4 may have been an exclusive release (and still is) it was undoubtedly many peoples ‘game of the year’. Admittedly, it was more than a little refreshing to see a ‘superhero’ franchise get an amazingly good game and lord knows it was long overdue for Spider-Man.

In a report via Kotaku, however, Sony has announced that they have successfully acquired Insomniac Games. The developer who, as you might have guessed, produced this title.

What does this purchase mean though? – Well, it may be more significant to gamers than you might have thought!

Sony Purchases Insomniac Games

In fairness, while Insomniac Games has never exclusively released for Sony, they do have a long-standing relationship with some of the consoles most iconic franchises. In recent years, however, we have started to see a significant trend towards console manufacturers purchasing developers. Specifically to ensure that they have exclusive content in the future.

It’s pretty clear, for example, that Microsoft is keen to buy any studio who it things can help push their Xbox console. The acquisitions, however, may largely start to bear fruit with the next-gen releases. It isn’t, however, probably good news for us gamers!

Spider-Man May Just Be The Beginning!

This purchase represents just one of many recent examples of studios being acquired by console developers. As such, with the release of the next-generation consoles expected next year, it does make you wonder whether we might be returning to the days where certain releases would be stubbornly set to a specific format. A factor not really seen since the days that Sega and Nintendo were fighting it out!

As a gamer, this might prove more than a little frustrating with us. We have, after all, (largely) enjoyed a long period of the most popular games being available on all major systems. If there is a sequel to Spider-Man underway, however, you can bet your boots it’s going to be solely on the PS5!

What do you think? Do you think we’re returning to a point of console specific releases? Which exclusive would you most like to see ported to your system? – Let us know in the comments!