OXM

There's a lot in the papers right now about next generation being the last console generation, and accordingly, a lot in the papers about the "death" of so-called "traditional", time and concentration-intensive gaming versus the explosion of mobile software. Insomniac Games CEO Ted Price reckons you all need to calm down and see sense. One way of playing a game doesn't exclude another, given a bit of flexibility on the part of developers.

"I'll go back and reference a historical point. 7 or 8 years ago, people said PC was dead," he told me at a preview event for Fuse, the Ratchet studio's promising squad shooter. "What's happened to PC? Thanks to digital distribution, Steam and other services, PC has come roaring back.

"I don't think it would be smart for any of us to say that the console business is going to go away, which you hear a lot in the news today," Price continued. "I think there will always be players who want big AAA summer blockbuster experience and you're going to get those experiences on consoles, which is for me as a player, exciting. At the same time, players have even more options when it comes to bite-sized experiences on mobile. It means as a games enthusiast, I can spend even more time playing.

"And that's great! I can tailor my play styles to what I'm doing. If I've got a few hours at home, I can fire up my console. If I'm in line at a coffee shop, I'm updating my Clash of Clans base, or playing Candy Crush Saga. I've been playing that a ridiculous amount.

"It's all good from the games industry's perspective as we have many more players coming in. It's just that change is hard to swallow. It's hard for companies to deal with sometimes. We're in an industry that's changing faster than ever and we have to accept that we're going to change too."

Insomniac is well-positioned to move with the times, on the face of it - besides a new ultra-efficient proprietary engine that's "built to last", the company has diversified into browser gaming with social role-player Outernauts. Fuse is due out in March this year.

no but making crappy family/move based and tower defense games of your most popular franchise will kill it. Honestly it infuriates me anytime Insomniac is in the news because everything they do betrays one of their most loyal customers. I bought every Insomniac game new from Spyro 1-3 to Ratchet 2-ACiT to R2 and 3 (didn't have PS3 until 2 came out and borrowed Ratchet 1) including Quest for Booty and loved them (even R2 if only for the co-op), but everything they've done after ACiT has been a slap in the face. From raping the Ratchet franchise 2 years in a row when they could've been working on a PS4 launch title to close out the story to going multiplat and making generic looking 3rd person shooters I'm just about ready to stop calling them my favorite dev of all time and move to the ND camp.

I think he's right, but I also think we'll see the market for home consoles contract significantly next gen. Insomniac expanding into mobile was interesting to see, felt like they were way too late to the game.

By the way, is this quite an old article? Fuse got delayed from March quite a while ago.

WHo seriously thought this? I personally just think it lowered the demand for dedicated gaming handhelds only.

Won't kill it, but it's undeniable that it has vastly reduced its relevance.

The console and AAA game space just isn't a growth market.

I would like to think that the 8th gen of hardware can revitalize demand, but the lukewarm reception of the Wii U has me thinking it's far from a sure thing.

It also has me thinking that the business model based around the 2 year development time for major releases may no longer be the rule for success, but the exception.

While I don't want to play in a market where mobile games that I'm not likely to play for more than a few sessions or for only 10-15 minutes at a time are the standard even when made available for free, about a dollar or even less than $10, we've kind of hit the point at which one has to ask which games are actually worth paying $60 on release.

give them time. going multiplatform isn't a bad thing. and considering Sony's markeing these days, i'd go mutiplatform to. and it prevents them from closing their doorslaying people off, like so many others

i'm ok with Fuse, but their next game is what i'm looking forward to. i can't remember the name, but i'm interested in knowing more about it.

next gen hardware increases budgets 10% (a very modest estimate).

mobile games reduce console ownership 10% (another modest estimate).

...just saying for a industry that is currently struggling to make money this could kill it. i absolutely agree that "there will always be players who want big AAA summer blockbuster experience" but do they want it enough to see their $60 games become $75 games? or $100 games?

be honest with yourself. are you willing to pay that? i have to say, i'd probably bail.

I hate what they've done to Ratchet more than anything.  It's by far my favorite franchise of all time, UYA is my favorite game ever, ACiT is my favorite game this gen.  The last 2 have had horrendous sales because many series faithful like myself just didn't take any interest in them so hopefully they don't take that as "the franchise is going downhill let's abandon it" and instead say "let's get back to what fans love and improve on minigames, upgrading, ship combat, etc. to get our innovation.  I mean ACiT had the best story and puzzles in the series and the ending left it open for 1 more installment.  I know the last 2 weren't made by the main team so I can only hope they're gearing up for a big PS4 Ratchet more in line with ACiT to win me back because right now I'm just frustrated with their direction.

the new studio has some growing/learning to do. i'm sure Insomniac will get back to what made R&C great. just let them explore the market, and see what else they can create outside of R&C, and R3.

criticize them, and support them as they grow.

Wii U poor sale mean nothing because gamecube also fail if your reasing is true console market would be dead in the generation of gamecube.