Ted Pricefounder and CEO of Insomniac Games, has announced his retirement after more than 30 years with the company in March 2025.
Owned by Sony, Insomniac Games is known for creating iconic game franchises such as Spyro the Dragon, Ratchet & Clank, and the Marvel's Spider-Man series.
Price's departure is a rare happy event in the gaming industry where we don't often see someone spend three decades in the gaming industry and retire of their own free will. And during that time, Price's company was great with titles that, in my opinion, got better and better with titles like the Spider-Man series.
Back in 2019, I interviewed Price about his 25 years in the business.
He said he started Insomniac Games (originally called Extreme Software) in 1994. With Al Hastings and his brother, Brian, Price went to work on Disturbancea science fiction shooting game that was repeatedly rejected by publishers. The price was down to its last $1,000. They started developing Disruptor for the 3DO, but that early game console started to tank. So Mark Cerny, a representative at Universal/Cerny Games, suggested that they adapt the game to PlayStation, Sony's new game console.
Universal published Disruptor. It didn't do well, but it led to more projects. The next game was Spyro the Dragon, which was a family-friendly platformer with a larger target audience than Disruptor. Spyro became a hit, and is still around today. Since then, Insomniac has moved on to bigger games, and now it has crossed its 25th anniversary as a company. His games include Ratchet & Clank, Resistance, Fuse, Sunset Overdrive, The Unspoken, Song of the Deep, and most recently, Marvel's Spider-Man series.
Asked how the company had weathered its 25 years in the difficult games industry, Price said in our 2019 interview, “What helped us get through the ups and downs of the industry is a commitment to collaboration across the entire studio. transparency, where everyone knows what's going on. Commitment to the philosophy that good ideas come from everywhere – as a studio, from the very beginning, we've always relied on an approach where we want everyone to take ownership the creative process and contributing and solving problems as a group. “
He said, “This is not a company where you have one chief designer or one creative director telling everyone what to do. We've never worked that way, and I don't believe it works well for a culture like ours, where so many different disciplines work together to create magic. I feel like we've been very consistent, culturally, in an industry that tends to be inconsistent.”
That culture has produced leaders beyond Price. To fill the role, Insomniac is moving to a new leadership model with three co-studio heads: Chad Dezern, Ryan Schneider, and Jen Huang.
Price had a lot of heart that also made him a beloved figure in the game industry, as he was and still is a major contributor to the industry's DICE Collection, put on every year by the Academy of Art and Interactive Business Sciences. And he had confidence too. The price stopped against President Donald Trump's travel ban from seven Muslim countries.
While other game developers sent out tweets or sent emails to employees about Trump, Price took the extra step of creating a YouTube video, where he stood in front of a camera with the entire Insomniac staff behind it. He appealed not only to Trump but to gamers to stand against the policy. And Price, whose company made many popular games such as Ratchet & Clank or Resistance, used the medium that players turn to almost every day, YouTube.
During Trump's first days in office in 2017, game developers from around the world to send out statements and tweets criticizing Trump's order ban on refugees and ban on citizens from Iraq, Iran, Syria, Sudan, Libya, Somalia, and Yemen from entering the United States for 90 days. Trump also banned foreigners with US permanent resident green cards from entering the country without inspection, and permanently banned refugees from Syria.
“We at Insomniac Games stand united in opposing President Trump's immigration ban,” Price said in the video. “There is no doubt that these orders will harm us as a company and many of our team members. So we ask. Is this the American way? Is discrimination based on religious belief or American national origin? Of course not. This is a deplorable, discriminatory act that we and many others across the country believe is completely unconstitutional. We have been, are, and always will be a nation of immigrants. If you agree with us, please do something about it. … Join us to be a force for good and make your voice heard.”
That leadership is why we gave Price our second year Visual Award in 2019.
Insomniac Games also thanked everyone who investigated with Insomniac about the condition of the workers and the Burbank studio during the terrible fires in the Los Angeles area.
“The fires have devastated the communities around us. We continue to focus on supporting each other and communicating daily with Sony Interactive Entertainment to provide everyone affected with the most up-to-date information and resources,” said the company.
The three directors who replaced Price said in a post, “Sharing the news that Ted is stepping down from Insomniac Games is still as emotional to write as it is to think. The three of us – Chad, Jen and Ryan – have worked closely with Ted for many years. He's not just our boss, he's our long-time friend. And a big one at that. Ted will be missed for so many reasons. “
He said, “One of the great things about Ted is his ability to inspire everyone around him to grow. Ted has also set the ultimate example of how to not only say the right thing, but do it too. Both with our games and how we conduct ourselves as directors and as a studio.”
They said that seeing how Price has worked for decades has prepared them for the challenge of stepping into Ted's canoe-sized shoes.
“None of us can and should not try to be 'like Ted' though – we need to stay true to ourselves and our own leadership styles. However, it's safe to say that we often think to ourselves, 'What would Ted do?' as part of our individual and collective decision-making process,” said Schneider, in the post.
“I started my Insomniac career during the PlayStation 2 era in studio marketing and communications, quickly transitioning into Insomniac's first community director and helping to establish a place within eag -PlayStation system,” Schneider said. “I joined Insomniac's senior management team several years ago and have held various studio roles including Head of Licensing Strategy & Studio Relations. In that role I partnered with teams inside and outside of Sony Interactive on how and when we talk about our games, including creative integration in the game. Most recently, I have been the Head of Brand Strategy & Leadership, which means I make sure through communication, coaching and culture development that what Insomniac is saying to the world about ourselves and our games in line with what we believe and how we operate within Insomniac.”
Source link