Insomniac Games, the developer behind Spider-Man 2, has been hit with a brutal hacking attack, with over a terabyte of company data leaked to the public. Rightfully, devs from Insomniac expressed their sorrow on social media, and numerous voices from the gaming world have stood up in solidarity with them.
The leaks began appearing online earlier today, on Dec. 19, after the ransomware group Rhysida put the data up for auction at 50 Bitcoins (around two million USD), GameIndustry reports. The data was partially sold to unknown buyers and included Insomniac’s whole publishing schedule for the next 12 years, internal revenue information, and employees’ private data. Rhysida has apparently released over 1.3 million files, GameIndustry shows, sending shockwaves throughout the gaming world. Naturally, waves of reactions appeared on social media from insomniac developers and other notable figures from the gaming industry expressing sorrow and support after this brutal attack.
The whole ordeal dumbfounded developers from Insomniac who wrote on social media. Associate Narrative Director for Wolverine, Mary Kenney, simply said “yikes” in her Dec. 19 tweet. Other leading members had equally little to say about the soul-crushing situation. Paul Mastroianni, Wolverine‘s Advanced Writer, only posted a picture of a sad Logan. Wolverine was particularly affected by the leaks, as they contained numerous internal footage of its gameplay, animations, and development. The game was slated to release in the Fall of 2026, though that will likely be pushed back as the company recuperates from the ransomware strike.
Developers from across the gaming industry came out in support of Insomniac and its developers. Neil Druckmann wrote a letter of solidarity on Twitter, saying that he’ll remain a patient fan of Insomniac, eagerly waiting for their upcoming projects—whenever they are ready.
“To our friends at Insomniac Games, we can’t wait to experience your next games whenever YOU feel they’re ready! Until then, we’ll remain your patient fans,” Druckmann wrote. Sympathies were also sent out by Remedy Games, the developer behind Alan Wake, who said that Insomniac did not deserve to have something like this happen to them after all the effort they’ve put into their games. Santa Monica Creative Director Corey Balrog and many others also expressed solidarity on Twitter and other social media platforms, hoping nothing like this ever happens to a studio again.
Waiting equals half the excitement in video games. If it wasn’t, no one would attend The Game Awards, nor would E3 ever come into existence. Cases like these are the antithesis of gaming, and I hope Insomniac successfully recovers from this anti-gaming act of tech violence.
Published: Dec 19, 2023 01:45 pm