I haven't really been very knowledgeable about Sony's first/second-party studios for a long time. I knew a bit back during the PSX-time, but even then it wasn't that much.

I just checked around a bit on Insomniac and Naughty Dog. My only knowledge before-hand was that Insomniac used to make Spyro but sold the Ip, and the same goes for Naughty Dog and Crash Bandicoot.

However, I just realised something that maybe all of you realized a long time ago. I'm gonna write about it anyway and see where it takes me.

During the PSX days, Naughty Dog pretty much only did Crash Bandicoot games while Insomniac pretty much only made Spyro-games. Then came the PS2. Crash and Spyro fell from glory after they got sold off to other developers, but Naughty Dog and Insomniac seems to have redeemed themselves anyway - Naughty Dog with Jak & Daxter, and Insomniac with Ratchet & Clank. Just like Crash and Spyro had back on the PSX, these two franchises each got 3 main games on the console.

Then came the PS3. Jak & Daxter seems to have fallen off the radar (PSP games notwithstanding, partly because they are often outsourced to other developers and partly because portables were a new addition to the Sony family). Ratchet & Clank got a new game on PS3, but still the developers' focus seems to have shifted elsewhere. Much like from PSX to PS2, they have moved their focus to new franchises. More mature franchises, perhaps? You be the judge.

Naughty Dog has moved on to Uncharted, and Insomniac moved on to Resistance. As I said, Insomniac has still made a Ratchet and Clank-game for PS3, so it's a bit different from what happened way back when, but the principle is the same. Therefore, I wouldn't be surprised if Sony are aiming for trilogies of both Uncharted and Resistance, before they, if at all, return properly to Jak (and maybe Ratchet).

I think the whole thing is very curious - Why build up a franchise and then start a new one without nurturing the old one? To me, it makes no sense, but then again Sony seem to have strayed away from what happened between the PSX and PS2 since Ratchet & Clank did get a PS3-game and a portable game(?) as well, and Jak & Daxter has gotten one(?) portable game.

Just a quick observation, I suppose. Thanks for reading it, if you did.

That is interesting... Although the pattern I noticed is how the games sort of resemble each other. Spyro and Crash Bandicoot were almost rivals in their genre. Although they are fairly different in gameplay mechanics, you kind of get the same feeling from hearing the games' names.

The same thing goes for Jak and Daxter and Ratchet and Clank. They're both similar types of game, with some differences of their own, yet the feeling you get from the game is almost the same.

This gen, as with your observation, things are a tad different as Resistance and Uncharted are quite different from each other in style and gameplay mechanics. However, they're still no doubt both amongst the top of their respective genres.

a new rachet n clank ps3 game was just announced and a dlc one was also released last year. That's 3 rachet n clank ps3 games.

On another note spyro and crash were owned by universal so they didn't get sold off. They never owned them.

On a last note.. Uncharted is awesome.

A new R&C was anounsed..... And since there is a Jak game coming out for the PSP.... they did not abandon the franchise... most likelly a new Jak is on its way for the PS3. The only big franchise that Sony Dropped was Crash... And i think that creating new IP's is the best thing you can do in order to stand out from the competition.

Creating new IPs is fine and dandy - Abandoning old ones is not. I just don't get why the put the focus of their development team on one franchise instead of delegating it. It's not like Nintendo works on Zelda, completes it, then works on Mario etc. They keep several projects open at any given time. I just don't get why Jak & Daxter seemingly doesn't matter to them anymore.

At the why not nuture oldish franchises:

Probably because they don't want them to get stale too quickly, we've had at least 5 R&C games (that i've played) and more on the way, I'm starting to get sick of the formula, only tuning in for the actually funny dialog and quirky weapons.

I seriously think R&C is going to fall off the AAA series list in the future because of the overload (they can't all be the same quality of Up Your Arsenal, can they?)

Also, I seriously hope Uncharted is not a trilogy. This game can easily be another Zelda like series, whereby they can have infinite amounts of games because there's not set overall story to all of them (unlike Halo, resistance, gears), where each game is another adventure for Nathan (recurring characters other then sully and drake would be nice to have a bit of consistency)

Insomniac pumps out a metric ton of Ratchet and Clank games. They always have one in development because they can basically reuse most of the game material, spruce it up, and the fans will eat it up.

Much like Koei and Dynasty Warriors.

I don't know how you can compare 2 games (Resistance 1/2) to 12 games (R&C) and think the focus is changing. Also there is another R&C game (A Crack In Time) scheduled for release in Q4 this year on the PS3.

The only crappy R&C game on a console IMO has been Size Matters and that's because they fudged the camera and didn't improve it enough from the portable version.  The rest have been steadily improving the system.

Admittedly, towards the current gen, I was focusing more on Naughty Dog than Insomniac.

Just thought id add some more info on Insomniac.

Insomniac never owned the Spyro IP -- they made the games for Universal who outsourced the publishing to SONY.

After Insomniac's 3 game contract was up, Insomniac decided to skip the middleman and have SONY publish their next game directly. They needed to crate a new IP since they don't own the Spyro IP. So R&C was born.

For PS3 Insomniac decided to make a new IP (Resistance) but also continue R&C (due to demand from the fans). Thus a cycle of 1 resistance and 1 ratchet game every 2 years was born - but edited when Insomniac decided to make R&C: Q4B for PSN. Which bring us to where they are now.