Just in case you needed additional proof that people do not buy a particular home console for exclusives.
This is a continuation of the information gathered from the recently leaked ransom between Rhysida and Sony’s first-party studio, Insomniac Games. With almost 2 terabytes of data extracted and uploaded onto the internet including gameplay and playable builds of their upcoming Marvel’s Wolverine game, including the actors that’ll portray its characters even.
However amongst the rubble of Marvel slop, various documentation was also released that showcased more of the financial side of Insomniac’s releases.
A comprehensive financial document recently disclosed the development costs, sales figures, and shares related to every game developed by Insomniac for several years. Observant gamers noted that Sunset Overdrive, the 2014 game co-developed by Insomniac Games, has generated a mere $567 in profit since its release.
There are slides circulating that state that Insomniac Games’ 2021 release of Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart resulted in an $8 million dollar loss, however such slide was more or less a projection as it was supposedly dated before the games actual release, which is a given considering how the slide also includes projected sales and profit figures from upcoming releases such as Spider-Man 3 and Wolverine.
Also hilariously enough it projects over 10 million sales for Spider-Man: Miles Morales which is hysterical given how that particular game paled in comparison to the original release of Marvel’s Spider-Man on Sony’s console alongside a dismal 450,000+ sales on PC, almost a third of the total sales versus Marvel’s Spider-Man Remastered.
However, due to the financial document leaked in the recent ransomware attack, it has come to light that Sunset Overdrive wasn’t a massive financial success for Insomniac Games.
Following the development of Sunset Overdrive, which incurred costs of $42,682,135, the game sold 1,898,433 units, bringing in a total revenue of $49,737,133. With costs factored in, including the collaboration with Blind Squirrel Games, Insomniac Games netted a mere $567 from the entire lifecycle of Sunset Overdrive.
It underscores the reality that, in the current landscape of video game development, a game often needs to achieve exceptionally high sales figures for the development studio to recoup the substantial investment made in its creation.
This shift in the industry has seen a move away from crafting engaging video games toward producing high-budget cinematic experiences, just look at the stark comparison in developmental costs associated with the likes of “i20” which happens to be 2018’s Marvel’s Spider-Man in comparison to the likes of the entirity of Spyro games released on PlayStation 1 and Ratchet & Clank released on PlayStation 2.
Games are now dominated by narratives, where their story and cinematics take center focus over actual gameplay, titles like The Last of Us, Grand Theft Auto V, and BioShock Infinite shaped the perception that games should prioritize their narrative and be regarded as “art” and “cinematic experiences”.
Then came Sunset Overdrive in 2014, a standout game of the year that defied conventions. Sunset Overdrive distinguished itself with unparalleled traversal mechanics and gameplay, setting it apart from contemporaries. The game centered around dynamic movement and building up the infection hit meter, where anticipating the environment through traversal was crucial.
The focus was on pure gameplay, a refreshing departure from the narrative-centric trend that the Insomniac Games of today find themself in.
What made Sunset Overdrive unique was its refusal to take itself seriously. With a lot of Tongue-in-cheek humor, and the fact that the public dismissed the story as silly only added to its allure. Sunset Overdrive was not just ahead of its time; it stood as a testament to influential game design, with traversal mechanics that arguably surpassed the cinematic slop that followed such as Spider-Man, which poorly emulates the likes of Prototype and InFamous.
This shift towards narrative centric releases would explain why Insomniac Games transitioned into becoming Sony’s bitch and, subsequently, evolving into a Marvel studio.
This strategic move allows them to pursue the creation of large-scale, commercially successful interactive movie games, potentially providing a more reliable source of revenue, considering how Sunset Overdrive was probably all things considered their last release that favored action over cinematics.
