Insomniac: Fuse Is "Something Fresh" in a "Sea of Sequels"

The Wooster

King Snap
Jul 15, 2008
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Insomniac: Fuse Is "Something Fresh" in a "Sea of Sequels"


Insomniac boss, Ted Price, on his insane plan to release a game without a number on the end of its name.

Fuse is an upcoming new IP from Ratchet & Clank developer, Insomniac. It's a - okay. Hold on. I can see I've lost you there. I know it's a difficult concept to grasp. A new IP is ... well, it's kind of like a sequel, only there's nothing for it to be a sequel to, you understand? It's cool if you don't, it's an old concept you don't see too much these days.

A lot of developers and publishers argue that the beginning of a console cycle is the best time to launch new IPs. As a result, they use the twilight years of a cycle to either bring franchises to a close or prepare them for a next-gen debut. The only problem is this generation has lasted much longer than those before it, and new IPs are starting to look uncomfortably thin on the ground. Insomniac's Ted Price is hoping that'll mean less competition for the upcoming co-op shooter, Fuse.


"There's no question that it's a challenge. There are plenty of news items to take gamers' focus off of this generation. For us, the opportunity was to be a new IP in a sea of sequels, offer something very fresh for players to check out when they've been playing, essentially, the same games for the last five or six years," he told Gamesindustry International. "What we wanted to do with co-op in particular was raise the bar and offer features that no other co-op games are offering at this point. Fuse was a great opportunity for us to do that."

While every AAA dev and their mom is quick to label new IPs "a risk," the past few months have seen a clutch of relatively successful new IPs, and there's an impressive degree of buzz surrounding upcoming titles like The Last of Us, Remember Me and, despite David Cage's best efforts, Beyond: Two Souls.

Of course, it's not just about being a new IP; New games have to distinguish themselves from the old to secure an audience desperate for new experiences, and that's where Fuse has ran into trouble. Originally titled Overstrike, the game that would become Fuse was rebranded in August of last year. The game's slightly-cartoonish art style was tossed out with the title, in favor of a "more realistic" art direction; A choice that was met with derision from fans hoping to see something closer to Ratchet & Clank than Resistance. Still, Price doesn't seem worried.

"Everybody's approach and response at the very beginning of each of [our] franchises was to ask the same question: 'Is this IP going to do well? What's it all about? Boy, this is a risk to take,'" he said." And, in every case, we stayed focused and did the best we possibly could to build the right story, build gameplay that does something better than other games and that helps the franchise stand out in some way, and then we've continued to take each of those franchises in different directions because, for us, that's what we enjoy doing. So its really nice to look back at Resistance and Ratchet and say, 'Those franchises did well.' But, when we released the first games in each of those franchises - and I'll throw in Spyro as well - we had no idea what was going to happen. We really didn't. And that's both the exciting and scary part of being a new IP creator,"

Fuse is set for release on Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 this May.

Source: Gamesindustry International [http://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2013-04-11-ted-price-aiming-to-offer-something-fresh-among-a-sea-of-sequels]


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kajinking

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Aug 12, 2009
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Wait...new IP? What series is that? Can I get the first IP on steam for cheap to try it out before the sequel comes out?
 

Roxas1359

Burn, Burn it All!
Aug 8, 2009
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Let's hope that this is good. I will admit, I love Insomniac a lot, but the last two Ratchet and Clank games weren't their best works for sure.
 

Something Amyss

Aswyng and Amyss
Dec 3, 2008
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So in order to make a new IP, they started with another IP, largely scrapped it, and rebranded it.

Who says we're lacking creativity?
 
Apr 28, 2008
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Maybe if it still looked like this


I'd be more interested. As it stands, this just looks like yet another realistic/serious shooter and I just can't find any reason to be interested in it. Yeah it's a new IP, but it just doesn't look all that original.
 

Agayek

Ravenous Gormandizer
Oct 23, 2008
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I would be all over applauding this if they hadn't taken something that was genuinely, interestingly different and replaced it with gray-brown quasi-realistic military shooter #1149672

Seriously, go back to Overstrike, then we'll talk.
 

Soviet Heavy

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Jan 22, 2010
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If it was still called Overstrike and looked like James Bond meets TF2 art style, I'd be inclined to agree.
 

Quazimofo

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Aug 30, 2010
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DVS BSTrD said:
Agayek said:
I would be all over applauding this if they hadn't taken something that was genuinely, interestingly different and replaced it with gray-brown quasi-realistic military shooter #1149672

Seriously, go back to Overstrike, then we'll talk.
They needed to remove the charm and the distinctive character design to make room for all the sun glare and multiplayer.
I'm surprised they didn't have the space left over from the extremely controversial decision of not having gun manufacturers insert their weapons into the game as free advertising (and to add gun variety).

I guess its on a tight budget then, at least that means it'll only have to sell 4 million for EA to ever associate with Insomniac again.
 

Negatempest

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May 10, 2008
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Agayek said:
I would be all over applauding this if they hadn't taken something that was genuinely, interestingly different and replaced it with gray-brown quasi-realistic military shooter #1149672

Seriously, go back to Overstrike, then we'll talk.
What this guy said.

So Insomniac replaced the original game that actually looked like a risk taking IP, than changed it to a gray/brown shooter that is flooding the market of today. Did these guys forget about what they did or are they in denial?
 

MrHide-Patten

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Jun 10, 2009
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Overstrike WAS something fresh and new in a sea of sequels, then EA marketing department had a "word" with them. Now it's a pseudo Resistance Sequel.
 

Colt47

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Oct 31, 2012
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I'd be angry, but this seems to be EAs standard mode of operation: Take a perfectly good idea, gut the heck out of it, and then proceed to try and sell it as either a rushed piece of work or a over generalized piece of wall plaster. That's assuming the game actually functions right to begin with. How can there be people that still buy from this company?
 

Quazimofo

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Aug 30, 2010
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psicat said:
Thank God they changed the fucking stupid TF2 art style.
Not a fan? Fair enough, but they also changed the tone to be more "serious" and made it more dry "wit" as we see in more "Modern Military Shooters (MMS for short). All that really sets it apart at this point is the distinct weapons and drop-in drop-out multiplayer, which is hardly an innovation anymore (or maybe it is on consoles, I don't know, but I've certainly seen the feature on PC games).

So yeah, overall, its more or less gone from The Incredibles + actually intentionally killing people + every first time d&d group ever, to Gears of War, but with drop in co-op and class-specific weapons.

Which, hilariously enough, is at least partially a thing in the new Gears of War.
 

Quiotu

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Mar 7, 2008
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DVS BSTrD said:
Agayek said:
I would be all over applauding this if they hadn't taken something that was genuinely, interestingly different and replaced it with gray-brown quasi-realistic military shooter #1149672

Seriously, go back to Overstrike, then we'll talk.
They needed to remove the charm and the distinctive character design to make room for all the sun glare and multiplayer.
See, THIS is what I don't like about them now. I distinctly liked the old No One Lives Forever vibe from the old look, but I can handle the more realistic look if the guns are fun, and the characters are still a bit out there. But their absolute crush on multiplayer and co-op have almost ruined one IP (R&C All4One and Full Frontal) and could kill another before it even begins.

They should give R&C to another dev willing to keep making the games like they were originally designed. They're clearly done with it, and are just milking the IP to see if they can change the rules of possibly the penultimate platformer series (Mario being ultimate). As for Fuse, they seem to think they have something to make this stand out a lot despite the changes, and I'm willing to stay cautiously optimistic. But they better start showing their audience something that wows us, and SOON. So far Last of Us and Remember Me have them seriously beaten in terms of style.
 

octafish

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Apr 23, 2010
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Chalk up another would have bought Overstrike, don't care for Fuse response here. I like NOLF, Overstrike had a definite NOLF flavour to it. I have read not good reports from previews to compound the problem.
 

Ed130 The Vanguard

(Insert witty quote here)
Sep 10, 2008
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Well, the EA curse strikes again.

'Fuse' may be a new IP, but it brings very little to the table in terms of any actual difference compared to every other shooter in the whole saturated market.

Ironically this is something 'Overstrike' had little issue with.
 

CrazyBlaze

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Jul 12, 2011
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Put me down for the ones who want Overstrike back. That looked fun and fresh. Fuse looks like another gritty realistic shooter. Why can't we have a Ratchet and Clank meets Restitance. You know a fun look that is over top with many different weapons that has a slice of realism in it.
 

piinyouri

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Mar 18, 2012
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I honestly don't care about the aesthetic, it's Insomniac.
It's going to be fun. : D
 

Agayek

Ravenous Gormandizer
Oct 23, 2008
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DVS BSTrD said:
They needed to remove the charm and the distinctive character design to make room for all the sun glare and multiplayer.
And here I thought they had made a blood sacrifice of the game's charm to the spirits of vengeance in order to make a proper Ratchett and Clank again.