Insomniac Being Given Back the Keys to One PlayStation Classic Could Be a Recipe for Success

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Insomniac Being Given Back the Keys to One PlayStation Classic Could Be a Recipe for Success

Highlights

  • Insomniac Games’ success with titles like Spider-Man and Ratchet & Clank shows they could revive Spyro to new heights.
  • Spyro the Dragon was a pivotal title for Insomniac, saving the company after a previous game’s failure.
  • Despite potential for a new Spyro game from Insomniac, Microsoft’s ownership of the IP makes it unlikely.

As a seasoned gamer who grew up with the iconic dragon named Spyro, I can confidently say that the thought of Insomniac Games revisiting this beloved franchise is nothing short of exhilarating. The success they’ve achieved with their recent projects like Spider-Man and Ratchet & Clank shows their potential to elevate Spyro to new heights.

Insomniac Games, prior to being acquired by PlayStation in 2019, was highly respected as one of Sony’s most successful and productive studios. For years, it had built a strong partnership with Sony Interactive Entertainment (SIE) and collaborated extensively with the console maker since their early days together. Over the past few decades, Insomniac Games has consistently delivered top-tier games. Titles like Marvel’s Spider-Man, Spider-Man: Miles Morales, Ratchet and Clank: Rift Apart, Sunset Overdrive, Resistance: Fall of Man, and Stormland are just a few examples from their impressive catalog that have earned critical acclaim.

Before Insomniac focused on Marvel characters like Spider-Man and Wolverine, as well as Ratchet and Clank games, they had already made a significant mark in their history with the Spyro the Dragon series. This popular 3D platformer was one of Sony’s flagship exclusives for the first PlayStation console and was incredibly successful in the late ’90s. Although the latest Spyro game, released in 2018 as the Spyro Reignited Trilogy, was a hit both critically and commercially, the Spyro franchise is largely inactive today. If given another chance to work on Spyro, Insomniac Games could potentially elevate the series to new levels.

Insomniac Working on Spyro Again Would Be a Dream Come True

The Spyro Series Played a Big Part in Insomniac’s History

Originating in 1998 with the launch of ‘Spyro the Dragon’ on the PS1, Insomniac’s much-loved ‘Spyro’ series began. Before this, the company had only produced one game – the first-person shooter ‘Disruptor’. Regrettably, ‘Disruptor’ was a commercial flop that nearly bankrupted the company upon its release. Thus, the fate of Insomniac hinged on the success of ‘Spyro the Dragon’. Thankfully, the game garnered critical praise and sold over a million copies in North America by December 1999, effectively saving the company from financial ruin.

Spyro the Dragon’s popularity led Insomniac Games to create two follow-ups, Spyro 2: Ripto’s Rage and Spyro: Year of the Dragon. Released in November 1999 and October 2000 respectively, both games were as successful, if not more so, than their predecessor. However, Year of the Dragon was Insomniac’s last Spyro game, as they moved on to develop other titles like Ratchet and Clank in 2002. Afterward, different developers such as Equinoxe Digital Entertainment, Krome Studios, and Digital Eclipse took over the franchise in subsequent years.

A New, Insomniac-Developed Spyro Game Would Likely Be Great, But There’s a Caveat

Despite not creating a new Spyro game for many years, Insomniac Games’ recent success with series like Ratchet and Clank: Rift Apart shows they excel at crafting delightful, family-friendly 3D platformers. If they were to produce a fresh, primary Spyro title now, there’s every reason to believe they would deliver a top-notch gaming experience that could potentially reignite the franchise’s former mainstream appeal, as it enjoyed during the PlayStation 1 era.

Given that Microsoft has purchased Activision-Blizzard, which includes the Spyro intellectual property (IP), it’s highly unlikely that Insomniac Games will develop a new Spyro game in the future. Even if Spyro continues to be multiplatform, collaboration between Xbox and PlayStation on a single video game is extremely rare. At this stage, there are only two possible scenarios for Insomniac to work on Spyro again: either they become an independent studio and leave PlayStation, or Microsoft decides to sell the Spyro IP to Sony. Regrettably, these possibilities are quite unlikely as well.

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2024-08-12 19:44