Sonyâ??s Yoshida saddened by Insomniac switch

Sony was told back in 2008 that Insomniac Games wanted to break away from the platform holder, the company has revealed.

Now two years later, and a few weeks after EA’s deal with Insomniac went public, a high-profile Sony executive tells Develop he was personally saddened by the studio’s switch.

”We grew up together” says Shuhei Yoshida, the head of Sony Worldwide Studios. “Insomniac’s first tile was on our first platform."

In a wide-ranging interview with Develop magazine, set to go online this week, Yoshida added: "We had a long lasting partnership with the studio’s management team, and I personally was the producer in Japan for Spyro the Dragon and Rachet & Clank.”

Insomniac Games was founded in 1994 and has since enjoyed an international reputation for delivering hit titles. The group is responsible for key PlayStation franchises such as Resistance.

In May, Electronic Arts announced it has signed up the studio as part of its EA Partners initiative. As part of the deal, the studio will expand its workforce and build multiplatform titles.

According to Yoshida, Insomniac was “very open about their need to grow and their intention”.

He said the studio wanted to add more teams and work on multiple platforms.

”They want to reach the people they haven’t been able to,” he added, “so it was sad to hear a couple of years ago what their intent was, but as we are growing, Insomniac is growing too.

”And the studio has its own ambition, so I totally understand, and I am very happy how they approached the announcement. They made sure that people know they are still working with us.”

Taking an optimistic approach, Yoshida believes that Insomniac’s move away from PlayStation exclusivity can only mean more content for Sony’s platforms.

”When you think about it, Insomniac is making multiplatform games. So PS3 owners should be happy because they are getting more Insomniac games as the studio hires more staff to develop more games”, he said.