Insomniac Games has been a staple of Sony home consoles since it introduced Playstation owners to Spyro the Dragon in 1998. Since that time, the studio has put out quality titles almost annually and looks to continue that trend when it releases Resistance 2 sometime in the fall.

Referring to Insomniac as a staple might be a little unfair. The studio, at least recently, has meant so much more to Sony. In fact, Insomniac probably single-handedly held the PS3’s head above water during its rocky first year. During that time, Insomniac was responsible for two of the consoles best games. I shutter to think where Sony would be without Resistance and Ratchet and Clank Future. Hell, I probably wouldn’t have purchased a PS3 had those two titles been absent from the lineup. Long story short, Insomniac has some of the best developers in the business.

These days, most of the news coming from Insomniac is focused on the progress of Resistance 2. The steady stream of media coming from the California-based company has PS3 owners salivating over the sequel to the excellent PS3 launch title. However, there is more going on at Insomniac than is visible to the eye. What is the company up to?

Find out after the jump.

Ted Price, the founder of Insomniac, recently revealed that the studio is planning on moving part of its team to North Carolina. According to a report by Game Daily, the new studio will be headed by Insomniac’s art director, Chad Dezern, and gameplay lead, Shaun McCabe. The new studio could open as early as January 2009.

This news has me excited for two reasons. One, I have an unhealthy obsession with Insomniac. The Burbank-based studio produces some of the best games available on any console, and this move puts them much closer to my old Kentucky home.

Second, and far less creepy, this means that PS3 owners can look forward to the addition of another quality development studio to an already impressive stable of first- and second-part developers. Game Daily reports that, “The North Carolina studio will also be known as Insomniac Games, and will focus both on developing current and new intellectual properties.” With Resistance 2 shipping in the fall, one of those current IPs might be the next Ratchet and Clank game. I won’t speculate as to what the new IPs might be (as I have no clue), but it is nice to see that Insomniac isn’t going to sit back and pump out sequel after sequel.

The team at the Raleigh-Durham studio will be much smaller than the one in Burbank, but will receive support from its big brother. Therefore, fans should expect this new studio to continue the Insomniac tradition of excellence.

Source: gamedaily

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