Sunset Overdrive, Fuse, and the state of Insomniac Games (And a sad IG fanboy)

[Solid-Stark]

Big Insomniac fan here too.

I kinda share your pain as well. I really like Insomniac but it seems like they had to switch the road they were on because of circumstances out of their control.

Ratchet & Clank is fantastic up to A Crack in Time. All 4 One was a new gameplay concept that is perhaps great but just didn't sit well in the R&C universe. I thought the game was good, but it seemed to have been ignored by most fans because of it's change of direction. Full Frontal Assault has brought it back but even Insomniac made sure R&C was no longer a full retail franchise. With all this said, R&C is definitely dried out for Generation 7 Playstation. R&C games are on a downward spiral in sales for some time now. They should make a full retail PS4 R&C along with the animated film and let R&C be a once or twice per gen franchise. (We have had 7 or 8 R&C games this gen PS3/PSP)

The Resistance franchise has also been in a downward spiral. I'm a big fan of the series (better than Killzone imo) but looking at the sales, and for the sake of Insomniac and Sony, it was best to drop the series. Only one spinoff (Retribution by Sony Bend) was worthy, so no spinoffs are necessary either.

Overstrike looked great. If you ask me, I though All 4 One was a preview of gameplay to expect from Overstrike. Then, it instead became Fuse. I had fun with the demo but it was nothing fantastic. Worse, they partnered with EA which brings theories that EA made Overstrike become Fuse. Whatever the truth is, Fuse was largely a miss.

With all that said, Insomniac has about 4 development teams across two studios. About 3 in Burbank, and one in Insomniac North Carolina. They have dropped Resistance but it seems like they will keep R&C. Also, they have steered away from consoles and PS in general for some time now, with Outernauts for Facebook (and soon for iOS) ; and it seems like they have been largely successful with that. That accounts for 2 development teams. Fuse was just finished by one (so this team will begin work on a new title) and of course Sunset Overdrive for the fourth team. That leaves one team open.

In summary,

R&C tired out but still in hands of Insomniac.
Resistance dropped b/c of declining sales/fatigue.
Tried new field and succeeded in Facebook - Outernauts

Therefore,
Tried multiplat, teamed with EA - Fuse
Exclusive work with M$ - Sunset Overdrive

It seems like a logical path for Insomniac, unfortunately.