computer and video games interactive entertainment founded february 28 1994 ; 22 years ago february 28 1994 founder ted price headquarters burbank california united states key people ted price ceo brian hastings alex hastings products spyro series 1998 2000 ratchet & clank series 2002 resistance series 2006 11 number of employees 191 1 website official website insomniac games inc. is an american video game developer whose corporate headquarters is located in burbank california . it was founded in 1994 by ted price as xtreme software and was renamed insomniac games a year later . it has released titles for the playstation playstation 2 playstation 3 xbox 360 playstation 4 and xbox one video game consoles . the company s first project was disruptor for the first playstation console whose poor sales almost led to the company s bankruptcy . insomniac s next project was spyro the dragon a successful video game that spawned two sequels within two years . insomniac then developed a new franchise ratchet & clank for the playstation 2 . the company also developed the resistance series for the playstation 3 and released its first multi platform game fuse in 2013 . the company also worked with microsoft studios on 2014 s sunset overdrive . the company s current projects include an underwater metroidvania game called song of the deep an oculus rift action adventure game titled edge of nowhere and an as yet untitled spider man game for the playstation 4 . insomniac games has received recognition from critics as an acclaimed video game developer . it was named the twentieth best video game developer by ign and the best place to work in america by the society for human resource management . some employees who left insomniac games have founded their own independent companies such as high impact games . contents 1 history 1.1 1990s 1.2 2000s 1.3 2010s 2 games developed 2.1 spyro 1998 2000 2.2 ratchet & clank 2002 present 2.3 resistance 2006 2011 2.4 other games 3 philosophy 4 related companies 5 accolades 6 references 7 external links history edit 1990s edit ted price founder of insomniac games . insomniac games was founded by ted price who was determined to work in the video game industry since the release of atari 2600 in 1977 when he was nine years old . 2 the studio was officially established in february 28 1994 by price . 3 price was later joined by alex hastings his fellow graduate and an expert in computer coding and programming . hastings joined the studio in june 1994 . 4 hastings brother brian hastings joined insomniac shortly afterwards . the studio was named xtreme software for a year but in 1995 it was forced to rename itself by another company with the same name . the studio shortlisted the resistance incorporated ragnarok black sun software ice nine and moon turtle before choosing the name insomniac games . according to price the company chose this name because it suddenly makes sense even though it was not their first choice . 3 5 shortly after the company s establishment it began developing its first project . the team took inspirations from the popular doom and hoped to capitalize upon the industry s excitement for a first person shooter . the team still lacked experience and considered developing a doom clone . the game was developed for the panasonic 3do because its developer kit can be purchased inexpensively and the team had high hopes for the console . 2 using a time frame of one month the team developed a functional gameplay demo for the game . it was pitched to various publishers and was later shown to mark cerny an executive producer from universal interactive studios who was impressed by the team s efforts . universal later published the game and helped with funding and marketing . 5 universal also helped the game s development and cutscenes and hired actors to film real time sequences . catherine hardwicke was hired to lead production design and inspirations were taken from warhawk . 2 3 5 cerny also gave input and feedback on the game s level design . however the 3do did not perform as they had expected and universal suggested that the team should switched to sony computer entertainment s playstation to increase sales of the game . the game originally ran on a custom engine developed by alex hastings and was upgraded and converted for the playstation within a month . the debut title was called disruptor and was released worldwide in november 1996 . 3 disruptor was released to positive critical reception and was named dark horse of the year by various gaming publications . john romero founder of doom developer id software praised the game . 3 id software considered disruptor a lesson about video game development . according to price it was the best game that nobody ever heard of . 5 with little marketing and advertisement the game was a commercial failure for insomniac and the company almost went bankrupt . sales of disruptor failed to meet the team s expectations . 6 despite the game s poor performance universal continued to partner with insomniac for its next game . the team s morale was low ; they decided to develop something new instead of a sequel to disruptor . 5 at that time the demography for the playstation shifted as more teenagers and children started to use the console to play video games . 5 as a result the team decided not to make another violent game like disruptor and instead develop a family friendly game that would be suitable for every member of a family regardless of their age . 5 the family game market was dominated by sony s competitor nintendo with games like super mario 64 while the playstation has no similar exclusives . cerny later pushed insomniac games to develop a game with a mascot and mass appeal . 2 5 an environment artist of disruptor craig stitt proposed that the game s theme and story should revolve around an anthropomorphic dragon . at the same time alex hastings began developing an engine that specialized in games with panoramic view which is suitable for open world games . the engine allowed more gameplay features including the ability for the dragon to glide through air . spyro the dragon was released in late 1998 . 3 5 the game received critical acclaim upon launch and received awards from publications . sales of the game was relatively low initially but climbed after christmas that year and overall sales of the game exceeded two million . the team was expanded to 13 staff members . because of spyro the dragon s success the studio was requested to develop a sequel for it . the development of spyro 2 ripto s rage began shortly after the launch of spyro the dragon . the team considered developing the sequel a challenge for them ; they had to develop new ideas to revolutionize the franchise within a short time . the team brainstormed ideas but later chose to expand a mini game from the original spyro the dragon which they thought had offered a different experience from spyro . the team also designed a mature story and advanced cinematics for the game . it met its target release window and was released in late 1999 . alex hastings was worried about the release because the game s development cycle was rushed and truncated . 3 5 2000s edit so we decided that it was better for us to start a new franchise try to come up with a new character than to try it to push spyro again . ted price on the aftermath of spyro year of the dragon . the studio was asked to develop the third installment in the spyro the dragon series upon the release of ripto s rage . to make the game more varied than its predecessors the team introduced more special moves for spyro the dragon and more playable characters . the dragon s personality was also made more approachable for players . the company struggled to create new ideas for the sequel . during the game s development the team expanded to about 20 to 25 people . 3 5 brian allgeier who would later become insomniac s games director also joined the studio at that time . 3 spyro year of the dragon was released worldwide in late 2000 . after releasing three games in three years the team decided to move on for a new project that had new original characters . 5 year of the dragon is the last insomniac games developed spyro game . 3 7 universal retained the intellectual property rights to the spyro series even though insomniac created it . this was also the end of insomniac games partnership with universal as the team at insomniac started to work directly to develop games for the playstation consoles . 3 in 2000 sony released its successor to playstation the playstation 2 . insomniac s ideas for its first playstation 2 project included monster knight a concept that was designed in 1999 but the game did not get beyond its planning stage . the canceled project was revealed 13 years after the game s conception . 8 9 the second title was girl with a stick which took inspirations from the legend of zelda and tomb raider . 10 it was intended as a serious game and to prove insomniac s ability to create games other than platformers . insomniac spent six months on the project developing several prototypes and a functional demo . however most staff members beside price were not passionate about the project 11 and thought it was one dimensional . sony also thought the game would not find a market and recommended insomniac to play to their strengths . 3 as a result girl with a stick was scrapped . according to price girl with a stick is a lesson for insomniac and its first failure . 3 a few weeks after the cancellation of girl with a stick brian hastings proposed that the company should work on a space adventure game with a science fiction theme . the game originally revolved around a reptilian alien with weapons traveling across planets . 12 the reptile character later evolved into a cavemen and eventually became a fictional creature called a lombax . they later named the creature ratchet . they designed an android companion called clank for ratchet . inspirations for the game were drawn from manga conker s bad fur day and from spyro the dragon . to differentiate the project from insomniac s previous projects they made the game more complex and included shooting and role playing gameplay elements . the team was excited about this project ; however the company was unable to develop a demo for the game because it did not have a suitable engine . as a result they developed art nuevo de flash gordon a metropolis diorama for sony which decided to help the ratchet game s funding and publishing . jason rubin on behalf of naughty dog lent insomniac the engine used in jak and daxter the precursor legacy . the game s title was ratchet & clank ; it was originally to be a launch title for the playstation 2 but it was delayed by two years and was released in november 2002 . it was a critical success . 3 13 five months before the launch of ratchet & clank sony approved the development of its sequel . insomniac hoped to bring new elements to the franchise ; it received feedback from players and improved some features of ratchet and clank . about a year later ratchet & clank going commando was released at which time insomniac had finished the prototype of their next game ratchet & clank up your arsenal which