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Insomniac's Ted Price

"We've had a super-positive response from our fans."

Robert Purchese avatar
Interview by Robert Purchese Associate Editor
Updated on
25 comments
EurogamerMichael Pachter told me recently that he would always tell you guys to go multiplatform because you'd make lots more money. Was all this his idea?
Ted Price

[Laughs] He'd like to take credit for it!

We've been talking about this for a long time, and over the last few years we realised we could reach a lot more gamers by going multiformat. But we at Insomniac have historically taken a very measured approach with what we do, and we weren't going to make this jump until we felt ready to support the move with the right technology and the right game.

EurogamerHas watching EA partner with studios such as Respawn and Valve helped make your decision easier?
Ted Price

The Respawn announcement came well after we had been working out details with EA Partners, so that didn't have any influence. However, we were very impressed with the partners EA had when we began talking to them. They work with some of the best developers in the world and the fact that these developers retain their IP was very attractive, as that has been our goal for a while.

EurogamerIs it more exciting to be working on your own IP?
Ted Price

It's certainly a different feeling in that it is our responsibility and our opportunity to take the IP into different areas and to exploit it, if you will. If we don't own the IP, it's up to the publisher. We're particularly excited about making an awesome game and taking the IP even further.

EurogamerWhat can you actually tell us about this mysterious game?
Ted Price

Really nothing, because we want to wait and announce it in the right way. We don't want to do little details here and there. We want to make sure our first impression is a strong one.

With Ratchet & Clank, Insomniac helped Sony show how pretty a PS3 game could be.
EurogamerWhat we've heard is that this new IP will be set in "a brand new universe". Now, that word "universe" could mean you intend to make more games, as you mentioned above. Or that word "universe" could mean you're making a space MMO with giant laser zombies in it.
Ted Price

That's a good suggestion [snorts]. I'm sure a lot of our guys would be interested in that particular idea.

EurogamerYou can take it.
Ted Price

Really? Royalty free.

EurogamerTake it.
Ted Price

Thank you.

EurogamerInsomniac's name is synonymous with Ratchet & Clank, Resistance, Spyro. Will you surprise fans with this new game?
Ted Price

I think we will. Again, I can't give any details because I don't want people making assumptions before we announce it. Of course, that's inevitable - that people will make assumptions - which is why I'm trying to stay as quiet as possible.

EurogamerWhat's the development cycle going to be like - will you need longer to come to terms with a new platform?
Ted Price

We've already extended all of our development cycles since we began working on PlayStation 3. We believe in taking more time on each of our projects. I don't want to comment specifically on how many years for each game, but we've taken a hard look at our own development processes internally and made some tweaks that we ultimately think will benefit gamers in a big way.