Summary
The president and founder ofInsomniac Games, Ted Price, has announced his retirement after dedicating over 30 years to the studio. Price is credited with the creation of some ofInsomniac Games’most beloved IPs, such asRatchet and Clank,Spyro the Dragon, andResistance: Fall of Man, and will be succeeded by three new studio co-heads.
Founded in 1994, Insomniac Games has morphed into one of the most prolific studios in the games industry. A big contributor to this reputation is Insomniac’s long-running partnership with PlayStation, which, in conjunction with Ted Price’s creative prowess, has spawned several iconic franchises.PlayStation acquired Insomniac in 2019after the colossal success of 2018’sMarvel’s Spider-Man, and the Burbank-based studio has proven itself to be a workhorse with a steady cadence of game releases during the initial years of the PS5 generation.
Now, though, Ted Price’s tenure in the games industry has come to a close, as theInsomniac president recently announced his retirementby way of a blog post on theSony Interactive Entertainment website. In the letter, Price first acknowledged the difficulties faced by Insomniac employeesdue to the LA wildfires, and expressed commitment towards supporting those affected. The Insomniac chief then revealed his plans to retire from the games industry at the end of March 2025, a decision he supposedly took last year.
Price has been in the industry for over three decades, and feels that it’s time to “step aside and let others pave the way” for thefuture of Insomniac Games. After working with senior studio leadership over the past year, Price has named three longstanding Insomniac employees as his successors:Chad Dezern,Ryan SchneiderandJen Huang. Dezern has been with Insomniac since 1998, starting off as an environment artist and advancing all the way up to Head of Creative. Schneider began his career at Insomniac during the PS2 days in the marketing and communications department, and Huang has served as the studio’s CFO and Head of Finance for the past eight years.
While Price’s forthcoming retirement might be sad for Insomniac staff and fans, it’s at least reassuring to know that he’s leaving the studio in trusted hands. Dezern, Schneider, and Huang have devoted a lot of years to Insomniac Games, and their varied skill sets could do well to guide the studio going forward. Some have expressed doubt over the viability of Insomniac’s multi-leader arrangement, but it’s worth noting thatPlayStation itself has two CEOsmanaging separate verticals of the business.
