Rumor: Sony and Incog Inc. splittville?

by Peter Vrabel { May 15th 2007 at 8:00PM }

The coveted developer that created the Twisted Metal and Warhawk franchises may soon be parting ways with the Sony empire. Rumor has it Sony has been none too pleased with Incog's performances as of late. Sony will sever ties once Warhawk is completed for the PS3, and even scoop up a few of their talented developers in their wake. Those remaining on-board with Incog would likely have to form new financial relationships with publishers and such. If you were waiting for some Twisted Metal love on the PS3, you might just have to wait indefinitely. No word on exactly who will retain the rights to either Warhawk or Twisted Metal after the deal is done. More to come on this as it develops.

[Via PSXExtreme]

Tags: incog, incog inc, IncogInc, incognito, twisted metal, TwistedMetal, warhawk

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

JGUNZ @ May 15th 2007 8:12PM

sony needs to keep all the developers they can. 3rd parties are not supporting the ps3 like they should.

jgunz @ May 15th 2007 8:11PM

sony needs to keep all the developers they can. 3rd parties are not supporting the ps3 like they should.

jay @ May 15th 2007 9:50PM

i have a hard time believing this. No way they would just give up on a developer before their game has come out. Warhawk could be a hit, and if it is, why wouldn't Sony keep them?

I'm almost positive Sony owns the rights to Twisted Metal. That's why 989 studios made TM3 and TM4 when SingleTrac stopped making PS1 games.

thatpspkid @ May 15th 2007 11:14PM

WTF

Aaron @ May 15th 2007 9:19PM

I dont see this happening. Sony needs Incog. andI need a Twisted Metal PS3! :)

massive_98 @ May 15th 2007 9:32PM

What the fuck is wrong with Sony? Cmon Sony just because you don't like what they are doing it doesn't mean you have to cut them off. We need more exclusives

This could also be a Wii60 rumour to scare people into buying an overpriced online machine or a fun novelty.

Cagalli @ May 15th 2007 9:49PM

I think it is an Xbot rumor... look at the source site (stupidgamer.com). Anyway, I won't believe anything until there is an official press release from Sony or Incognito.

mccomber @ May 15th 2007 9:57PM

It's all about the IP's, and who will retain the rights to them. Considering that at one point development of the series was handed over to 989 studios, I'd say Sony is the one in control of Twisted Metal properties, and I'd wager the same is true of Warhawk and the other titles we know Incognito/SingleTrac for.
If Incog is the one that has caused delays for Calling All Cars and Warhawk, I can understand Sony being upset. Warhawk was/is a mess, a title that's been in the works for over 2 years already. Don't get me wrong, I'm looking forward to it, just stating some history here.
At this point their last big title was Twisted Metal: Head On for the PSP, and for consoles was Twisted Metal Black for the ps2. Their biggest titles are all from back in the ps1 days, back when the team that is Incognito was part of SingleTrac, and until we see Warhawk they haven't done anything of much consequence on their own lately.

On the one hand we have commenters blasting Sony about not getting games out soon enough, and if true, this may be a move to rein-in a developer behind such repeated delays of titles. Why are you all once again jumping all over Sony? If they keep the IPs, and the key members of the team, how is this bad in any way other than as spun on the interwebs?

massive_98 @ May 15th 2007 10:07PM

Games these days seem to take much longer to devolop than they have in the past.

Does Sony help pay the bills for Incognito?

Because if they do I would be pretty upset as well.

Popfrogs @ May 15th 2007 10:52PM

Incognito is pretty important to Sony, although it's still a slap in the face that there were Warhawk pictures on the PS3 box from Nov. 17th and it *still* hasn't been released. And it's a shame that Sony had to step in and tell the Warhawk devs to scrap the single player and just finish the game.

Now, if Sony loses Insomniac, my PS3 is going on Ebay.

John @ May 15th 2007 10:52PM

What? That is a really obtuse article.

But I think McComber has the most insightful view.

We have a couple of problems. We've all been waiting for Warhawk, and it's not out, yet.

We assume that they are making a super-polished product, understanding the ins/outs of cell, etc.

But right now, we're all playing and re-playing Motorstorm and Resistance. And these people didn't need all that time.

On the other hand, you can say, well, Sony didn't give the average developer enough stuff to work with.

So average development houses can do this:

1) make a game and release it, without knowing the hardware too good or having/developing the best software (see EA's Marvel Alliance)

2) take the time to learn the hardware and either a) tweak engines to run the best possible at this time or b) write their own engines (which Insomniac, of Resistance fame did)

Either way, we're hit with a problem, which is, if you release it early, it may look and behave fairly shittily, and if you release it later, having compensated and corrected for the new hardware, you may end up with something just near the bar.

It's good to see that Sony has created an update to their software performance suite, but many developers do not have the resources to program specifically to ps3.

And those that do, are limited.

We tend to love Resistance, but that is a Sony house, that had the information early.

The exclusives, like Resistance, Motorstorm, and even the demo of GT HD, they are becoming intimate with the hardware.

But users want to know, what am I going to be able to get, prior to 2008?

mccomber @ May 15th 2007 11:37PM

"But users want to know, what am I going to be able to get, prior to 2008?"

Exactly. A big part of why I bought a ps3 was what we were supposed to have in 2007, THROUGH 2007. Now, I'm not saying I wish that I'd bought a 360 instead; about the only title I've seen on that I really want is of course Gears, with Dead Rising and a couple others piquing my interest. Honestly, I enjoy my ps3, and am glad I bought one. There are games coming out for it in the future I want to play, Home looks great, and I've been loving bluray for both picture and sound. Even the Prestige gave my surround speakers a workout, and my hdtv finally has some content beyond Discovery channel and Lost.

But... would I have been so quick to part with over $700 in Fall of 2006 when the majority of games I've been playing on my ps3 are ps2 titles? Doubtful.

We don't know if there is any truth to this right now, so I'm taking it with a grain of salt. But If Sony has to start cleaning houses they have control over to get the games together and give me content, I say go for it. If the best developers from Incognito get pulled into Santa Monica and they make a great new Twisted Metal, or (pretty please) a ps3 JetMoto, I won't care who developed the game, just that it was made.

Next-Gen-Gamer @ May 15th 2007 11:59PM

As long as a JetMoto game comes out on any platform (other than PC or PSP), then I don't care where they go.

OrganicShadow @ May 16th 2007 10:15AM

I call bullshit.

Why? Because it's fucking WARHAWK. One of the spearhead titles dubbed by Sony. They aren't going to just drop it that quickly if they even wanted to, because the name/brand tie is already there between the two. It also doesn't seem like there are any bad relations between Sony and Incog the very least either. They seem like they have close ties and work well, so I really don't see this as even slightly true.

Like others have said, it sounds more like some xbot or ninty BS to get people spooked.