Ted Pricethe founder and CEO of Insomniac Games, has announced that he will retire in March 2025 after more than 30 years with the company.
Owned by Sony, Insomniac Games is known for developing iconic game franchises such as Spyro the Dragon, Ratchet & Clank and the Marvel’s Spider-Man series.
Price’s departure is a rare happy occurrence in the games industry, where it’s still not often that someone spends three decades in the games industry and then retires of their own free will. And during this time, Price’s company shined with titles that, in my opinion, only got better with titles like the Spider-Man series.
In 2019, I interviewed Price about his 25 years in the industry.
He said he founded Insomniac Games (first known as Extreme Software) in 1994. With Al Hastings and his brother Brian, Price got to work troublemakera science fiction shooter game that was repeatedly rejected by publishers. The price had fallen to its last $1,000. They began developing Disruptor for 3DO, but the early gaming console began to fail. That’s why Mark Cerny, producer at Universal/Cerny Games, suggested moving the game to the PlayStation, Sony’s young game console.
Universal releases Disruptor. It didn’t go well, but it led to more projects. The next game was Spyro the Dragon, a family-friendly platformer with a larger audience than Disruptor. Spyro became a hit and is still around today. Since then, Insomniac has moved on to bigger games and has now passed its 25th anniversary. Games include Ratchet & Clank, Resistance, Fuse, Sunset Overdrive, The Unspoken, Song of the Deep and most recently Marvel’s Spider-Man series.
When asked how the company has weathered its 25 years in the difficult games industry, Price said in our 2019 interview: “What has helped us weather the ups and downs of the industry is the commitment to collaboration across the studio. “ Transparency where everyone knows what’s going on. Committing to the philosophy that great ideas come from everywhere – as a studio we have relied from the start on an approach where we want everyone to take ownership of the creative process, contribute to it and solve problems as a group. ”
He added: “This is not a company where a senior designer or a creative director tells everyone what to do. We’ve never done it that way, and I don’t think 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 culturally consistent in an industry that tends to be inconsistent.”
This 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, which also made him a popular figure in the gaming industry, as he was and is a key contributor to the industry’s DICE Summit, hosted every year by the industry’s Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences. And he also had courage. Price took a stand against President Donald Trump’s travel ban from seven Muslim countries.
While other game developers posted tweets or sent emails to employees about Trump, Price took the extra step of creating a YouTube video in which he stood in front of a camera with all of Insomniac’s employees behind him. He appealed not only to Trump, but also to the players to oppose politics. And Price, whose company developed many popular games such as Ratchet & Clank and Resistance, used the medium that gamers rely on almost every day: YouTube.
Back in 2017, during Trump’s first days in office, game developers from all over the world were there issued statements and tweets Criticism of Trump’s order Ban refugees and expel citizens from Iraq, Iran, Syria, Sudan, Libya, Somalia and Yemen are barred from entering the United States for 90 days. Trump also banned foreign nationals with green cards who are permanent residents of the U.S. from entering the country without verification, and he permanently banned refugees from entering Syria.
“We at Insomniac Games are united in our strong opposition to President Trump’s immigration ban,” Price said in the video. “There is no question 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 national origin American? Absolutely not. This is a deplorable, discriminatory act that we and many others across the country believe is blatantly unconstitutional. We were, are and always will be a nation of immigrants. If you agree with us, please do something about it. … Join us as a force for good and make your voice heard.”
This leadership is the reason we gave Price our second yearbook Visionary prize in 2019.
Insomniac Games also thanked everyone who reached out to Insomniac about the condition of its employees and the Burbank studio during the horrific fires in the Los Angeles area.
“The fires have devastated the communities around us. “We remain focused on supporting each other and communicating daily with Sony Interactive Entertainment to provide the latest information and resources to everyone affected,” the company said.
The three executives replacing Price said in a post: “Sharing the news that Ted is retiring from Insomniac Games is still as emotional as it was to think about it.” The three of us – Chad, Jen and Ryan – have worked closely with Ted for many years. He is not only our leader, he is our long-time friend. And a great one at that. Ted will be missed for so many reasons.”
He added: “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 not only saying the right thing, but doing it. Both in our games and in our behavior as leaders and as a studio.”
They said seeing how Price operated for decades prepared them to take on the challenge of stepping into Ted’s giant canoe-sized shoes.
“However, none of us can and should try to be ‘like Ted’ – we must remain true to ourselves and our own leadership style. “However, it is safe to say that we often ask ourselves, ‘What would Ted do?’ as part of our individual and collective decision-making process,” Schneider said in the post.
“I started my Insomniac career in studio marketing and communications during the PlayStation 2 era, quickly transitioned my role to become Insomniac’s first community director and helped establish that role within the PlayStation ecosystem,” said Schneider . “I joined Insomniac’s senior leadership team several years ago and have held several studio positions, including Head of Franchise Strategy & Studio Relations. In this role, I worked with teams inside and outside of Sony Interactive to clarify how and when we talk about our games, including creative in-game integrations. More recently, I served as Head of Brand & Leadership Strategy, which means that through communications, coaching and culture development, I ensure that what Insomniac tells the world about ourselves and our games is consistent with our beliefs and behavior Insomniac agrees.”
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