Ted Price, the CEO of Insomniac Games, developer of Sunset Overdrive, has stated that Sunset Overdrive 2 is certainly on the cards, but it sadly seems to be grinding, traversing and back-flipping its way into development hell. Price has said that if Sunset Overdrive 2 is to be made, they would “need a partner”, perhaps shedding light on a break down in the relationship between Insomniac and Microsoft.
During a recent Twitch stream by Insomniac, Price answered questions regarding the state of Sunset Overdrive 2:
“Sunset [Overdrive] is something that I know a lot of our fans talk about wanting to see the sequel,” he then added, “We need a partner for that. That’s a big game; Sunset 2 would be a very large-scope game”
This is not wholly fresh news however, Price has shed light into this relationship before. When speaking back in 2014, he passed the blame of a lack of Sunset Overdrive 2 on, encouraging everyone to “ask Microsoft” instead. Whether Microsoft’s lethargy is because of a break down in relations between the two companies, or if Microsoft simply turned down the opportunity to help deliver a sequel, is still unclear. The first game was not a big hit sales-wise, despite critical acclaim, and it wasn’t until the game became free with Games with Gold that it attracted a lot of previously indifferent attention.
Microsoft published the first Sunset Overdrive, but that said, Insomniac do fully own the Sunset Overdrive IP rights, and so they won’t need to ask Microsoft for permission for Sunset Overdrive 2. This would suggest that a sequel fully owned by Insomniac, if snubbed by Microsoft, could then be either exclusive to another platform, or available on all platforms.
Adding further fuel to the fire, you can see below a fan directly asking Insomniac for Sunset Overdrive 2 on Twitter.
The fan replied to that tweet tagging Phil Spencer himself, so now we wait…
Wouldn’t it be great if that one fan could turn the tides of development, and singlehandedly repair whatever went wrong between Insomniac and Microsoft the first time around? It is a long shot, but at this point there are surely a large majority of us that would love to see Sunset Overdrive 2 release in the near future, especially on a PS4 Pro or Xbox One X. It is important to note, however, that Insomniac is on the cusp of releasing the much anticipated PS4 exclusive Spiderman game in 2018, leaving us to wonder whether or not further exclusivity deals could be drawn up, for any future Insomniac development projects.
It is difficult to say with absolute certainty who is to blame here, or if in fact anybody is to blame. If two interests do not align, then it isn’t necessarily any one companies fault, despite gamers potentially missing out on a sequel. Price certainly points the finger at Microsoft, though not maliciously, and maintains that the game is still alive if a publisher can be found, so whether you think Microsoft is turning their back on the game or not, it does then open the door for someone else to step in.
What do you think will happen with the game, will we ever get a sequel? Who would you like to see publish it? Let us know in the comments below, be sure to follow our social streams and we will see you next time.
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