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Insomniac Games

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Insomniac Games
Information
Type Subsidiary
Industry Video games
Founded 1994
Founder Ted Price
Headquarters Burbank, California, United States
Notable Personnel Chad Dezern, Ryan Schneider, Jen Huang (co-studio heads)
Products Edge of Nowhere, Feral Rites, The Unspoken, Stormland
Parent Sony Interactive Entertainment
Website https://insomniac.games


Insomniac Games is an American video game developer founded in 1994 by Ted Price. It is best known for console games such as the Spyro the Dragon, Ratchet & Clank, Resistance and Marvel's Spider-Man series, and it has been part of Sony Interactive Entertainment since 2019.[1][2][3]

Between 2016 and 2019 the studio made four virtual reality games for the Oculus Rift, all published by Oculus Studios: Edge of Nowhere, Feral Rites, The Unspoken and Stormland.[4][5] UploadVR described the studio as one of the first developers to partner with Oculus Studios.[4] It has released no VR games since Stormland, and in May 2025 it said it had no plans to make games for PlayStation VR2.[6]

Reviewed 27 September 2026. Checked founding, first game, franchises, Sony acquisition dates and price, 2024 layoffs, Ted Price retirement and successors, Marvel's Wolverine launch, and all four Oculus Rift VR games' dates, features, reception and store delisting history against the cited sources. About review dates.

History

Ted Price founded the company in 1994, and its first game, Disruptor, came out in 1996.[2] The studio went on to create the Spyro the Dragon, Ratchet & Clank and Resistance franchises,[2][1] and from 2018 it developed the Marvel's Spider-Man games, which Sony says have sold more than 50 million copies combined.[3]

On 20 August 2019, Sony Interactive Entertainment announced an agreement to acquire Insomniac, which it described as a long-time PlayStation partner with studios in Burbank, California and Durham, North Carolina.[1] The purchase closed on 15 November 2019. A Sony filing later put the price at 24.895 billion yen, about 229 million US dollars.[7] Insomniac was one of the studios hit when PlayStation cut about 900 jobs in February 2024.[8]

On 22 January 2025, after more than 30 years running the studio, Price announced that he would retire at the end of March 2025, with Chad Dezern, Ryan Schneider and Jen Huang taking over as co-studio heads.[9][2] The studio's most recent game, Marvel's Wolverine, launched on PlayStation 5 on 15 September 2026.[3]

XR work

Insomniac's first VR game, Edge of Nowhere, was shown at E3 in June 2015. In Game Informer's roundup of VR at the show, Mike Futter wrote that the third-person game proved immersive despite the common assumption that VR favors first-person play.[10][4] On 18 April 2016, Oculus and Insomniac set a 6 June release date for that game and announced two more Rift exclusives, Feral Rites and The Unspoken.[11][12] Creative director Chad Dezern told Kotaku at the time: "We're very much VR true believers."[5]

The first two games were third-person titles played seated with a gamepad. Edge of Nowhere is a horror adventure set in Antarctica, and Road to VR's review noted that its third-person camera kept the player comfortable over a 5-6 hour playthrough.[13] Feral Rites, a brawler in which the player can transform into a beast, had a weaker reception.[14][4] The Unspoken was built for the Oculus Touch motion controllers. It is a one-on-one spell-casting duel game, and Oculus gave it away with every Touch pre-order when the controllers launched on 6 December 2016.[11][15]

Oculus announced Stormland on 7 June 2018 as an open-world action game with a single-player campaign and co-op exploration.[16] The first-person game[4] came out on 14 November 2019 for 40 US dollars, the day before the Sony acquisition closed.[17][7] Road to VR scored it 9/10, and UploadVR reported that it could also be played on Oculus Quest through Oculus Link.[17][18]

Store availability

All four games are PC VR titles sold through Meta's Rift store, and they have been pulled from sale more than once. In January 2022, Stormland and The Unspoken disappeared from the store's listings; Meta said the games returned after the Data Protection Assessment was completed.[19] All four were delisted again in early 2025. Road to VR reported that the removal was due to Insomniac missing an annual recertification process that Meta requires for games to stay on the store.[20][21] Edge of Nowhere, Stormland and Feral Rites returned in March 2025, and The Unspoken was relisted on 6 May 2025.[22][23] When UploadVR tested The Unspoken after its return, the single-player mode worked but multiplayer did not.[23] In March 2025, Insomniac said it had no news to share about bringing the games to PlayStation VR2.[22]

Products

Game Release Platform Notes
Edge of Nowhere 6 June 2016 Oculus Rift Third-person horror adventure played with a gamepad; published by Oculus Studios[13][5]
Feral Rites 13 September 2016 Oculus Rift Third-person brawler played with a gamepad[14]
The Unspoken 6 December 2016 Oculus Rift with Oculus Touch Multiplayer spell-casting duels; bundled with Touch pre-orders[15][4]
Stormland 14 November 2019 Oculus Rift First-person open-world action with co-op; published by Oculus Studios[17][19]

See also

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 "Sony Interactive Entertainment to Acquire Insomniac Games, Developer of PlayStation 4 Top-selling Marvel's Spider-Man, Ratchet & Clank". Sony Interactive Entertainment. 2019-08-20. https://sonyinteractive.com/en/press-releases/2019/sony-interactive-entertainment-to-acquire-insomniac-games-developer-of-playstation4-top-selling-marvels-spider-man-ratchet-clank/. Retrieved 2026-09-27.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 Justin Carter (2025-01-22). "Insomniac Games CEO and founder Ted Price to retire in March". Game Developer. https://www.gamedeveloper.com/business/insomniac-games-ted-price-to-retire-in-march. Retrieved 2026-09-27.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 "Marvel's Wolverine Launches Worldwide, Exclusively on PlayStation 5". Sony Interactive Entertainment. 2026-09-15. https://sonyinteractive.com/en/press-releases/2026/marvels-wolverine-launches-worldwide/. Retrieved 2026-09-27.
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 4.5 Jamie Feltham (2019-11-13). "Every Insomniac VR Game Ever Reviewed". UploadVR. https://www.uploadvr.com/insomniac-vr-game-reviewed/. Retrieved 2026-09-27.
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 Stephen Totilo (2016-04-18). "Insomniac Now 'True Believers' In VR, Releasing Three Oculus Games In 2016". Kotaku. https://kotaku.com/insomniac-now-true-believers-in-vr-releasing-three-ocu-1771520824. Retrieved 2026-09-27.
  6. ↑ David Heaney (2025-05-28). "Insomniac Games Does Not 'Have Plans' For PlayStation VR2 Games". UploadVR. https://www.uploadvr.com/insomniac-games-does-not-have-plans-for-playstation-vr2-games/. Retrieved 2026-09-27.
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 Alissa McAloon (2020-02-10). "Sony's 2019 acquisition of Insomniac Games priced at $229 million". Game Developer. https://www.gamedeveloper.com/game-platforms/sony-s-2019-acquisition-of-insomniac-games-priced-at-229-million. Retrieved 2026-09-27.
  8. ↑ Kris Holt (2024-02-27). "PlayStation is laying off 900 staff across Naughty Dog, Insomniac and other studios". Engadget. https://www.engadget.com/playstation-is-laying-off-900-staff-across-naughty-dog-insomniac-and-other-studios-145323606.html. Retrieved 2026-09-27.
  9. ↑ "Insomniac Games' Ted Price Announces Retirement After Three Decades". Sony Interactive Entertainment. 2025-01-22. https://sonyinteractive.com/en/news/blog/ted-price-announces-retirement/. Retrieved 2026-09-27.
  10. ↑ Mike Futter (2015-06-22). "E3 2015 Virtual Reality Roundup: Oculus, Morpheus, HoloLens, And More". Game Informer. https://gameinformer.com/b/news/archive/2015/06/22/e3-2015-virtual-reality-roundup-oculus-morpheus-hololens-and-more.aspx. Retrieved 2026-09-27.
  11. ↑ 11.0 11.1 "Introducing Feral Rites and The Unspoken From Insomniac Games - Coming Soon to Oculus". Meta Quest Blog. 2016-04-18. https://www.meta.com/blog/introducing-feral-rites-and-the-unspoken-from-insomniac-games-coming-soon-to-oculus/. Retrieved 2026-09-27.
  12. ↑ Daniel Perez (2016-04-18). "Insomniac Games confirms release dates for Edge of Nowhere, Song of the Deep; reveals new VR games". Shacknews. https://www.shacknews.com/article/94169/insomniac-games-confirms-release-dates-for-edge-of-nowhere-song-of-the-deep-reveals-new-vr-games. Retrieved 2026-09-27.
  13. ↑ 13.0 13.1 Garret Bullard (2016-06-06). "'Edge of Nowhere' Review on Oculus Rift - True terror awaits in the frozen depths of Antarctica". Road to VR. https://roadtovr.com/edge-of-nowhere-review-oculus-rift/. Retrieved 2026-09-27.
  14. ↑ 14.0 14.1 Scott Hayden (2016-09-13). "'Feral Rites' Review on Oculus Rift - A beautiful beast-mode brawler ...and that's it". Road to VR. https://www.roadtovr.com/feral-rites-review-oculus-rift/. Retrieved 2026-09-27.
  15. ↑ 15.0 15.1 Lucas Matney (2016-12-01). "Oculus shows off the 50+ launch titles for its Touch motion controllers". TechCrunch. https://techcrunch.com/2016/12/01/oculus-shows-off-the-50-launch-titles-for-its-touch-motion-controllers. Retrieved 2026-09-27.
  16. ↑ "Reclaim Your World with 'Stormland,' Insomniac's Latest VR Game Coming to Rift". Meta Quest Blog. 2018-06-07. https://www.meta.com/blog/reclaim-your-world-with-stormland-insomniacs-latest-vr-game-coming-to-rift/. Retrieved 2026-09-27.
  17. ↑ 17.0 17.1 17.2 Ben Lang (2019-11-13). "'Stormland' Review - The New Bar for VR Open-world Adventure". Road to VR. https://roadtovr.com/stormland-review-oculus-rift/. Retrieved 2026-09-27.
  18. ↑ Jamie Feltham (2019-09-25). "OC6: Insomniac's AAA Rift-Exclusive Stormland Gets A Release Date". UploadVR. https://www.uploadvr.com/stormland-release-date/. Retrieved 2026-09-27.
  19. ↑ 19.0 19.1 Jamie Feltham (2022-01-06). "Insomniac Games' Stormland And The Unspoken Disappeared From Oculus Rift Store". UploadVR. https://www.uploadvr.com/stormland-oculus-rift-store-missing/. Retrieved 2026-09-27.
  20. ↑ Justin Carter (2025-03-03). "Insomniac Games' Oculus Rift VR titles quietly delisted". Game Developer. https://www.gamedeveloper.com/business/insomniac-games-oculus-rift-vr-titles-quietly-delisted. Retrieved 2026-09-27.
  21. ↑ Scott Hayden (2025-05-07). "Previously Delisted, All of Insomniac's Rift Games Are Now Back on the Store". Road to VR. https://roadtovr.com/insomniac-delisted-rift-games-return-horizon-store/. Retrieved 2026-09-27.
  22. ↑ 22.0 22.1 Henry Stockdale (2025-03-08). "Most Of Insomniac's VR Games Have Returned To The Rift Store". UploadVR. https://www.uploadvr.com/most-of-insomniacs-vr-games-have-returned-to-the-rift-store/. Retrieved 2026-09-27.
  23. ↑ 23.0 23.1 Henry Stockdale (2025-05-07). "Insomniac's Full VR Library Has Returned To The Rift Store". UploadVR. https://www.uploadvr.com/insomniacs-full-vr-library-has-returned-to-the-rift-store/. Retrieved 2026-09-27.
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