Insomniac goes sleepless in North Carolina

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Insomniac Games, the independent developer that created the ‘Ratchet and Clank’ series, has always insisted on staying small. Its chief insomniac, Ted Price, has told us that he wanted the company to retain its independent streak.

At the same time, like many developers, the Burbank studio wants to crank out more games. What to do?

Price and his team struck upon an idea: Spread their special brand of sleeplessness to the East Coast!

They settled on Durham, N.C., which is near such universities as Duke and North Carolina, and has a much lower cost of living than California. The plan is to hire up to 30 developers for the East Coast office by January and keep the lid on the number of employees at home base to its current 150.

But Price says his company is still committed to Los Angeles. ‘Insomniac will continue to retain a large presence here,’ he said. ‘We believe California is a great place to make games, because of the proximity to motion-capture studios, actors, writers, composers and more. On the other hand, there are other places with vibrant game communities.’

-- Alex Pham