Walt Williams, whose previous titles include Spec Ops: The Line and Star Wars Battlefront II, has joined Insomniac Games as a Story Lead. The writer confirmed the news on Twitter. Given that Insomniac’s only announced title is currently Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart, which is coming this summer and most likely already has a finished story, it’s expected he will be working on a new unannounced game from the studio.
Having previously worked for 2K, Williams’ writing credits also include Evolve, Sid Meier’s Civilization: Beyond Earth, BioShock, The Darkness, and Mafia. The writer left 2K Games and AAA game development in 2014 to work on his book, Significant Zero: Heroes, Villains, and the Fight for Art and Soul in Video Games. The title offered a behind-the-scenes look at how AAA games were made. He then returned to the scene as a freelance writer and his most recent work is Star Wars Squadrons. Just prior to joining Insomniac, he’s also recently worked on an unannounced VR game and an unannounced AAA game, both as a writer.
Insomniac Games has a few titles in development right now. As well as a team supporting Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales, a sequel to Marvel’s Spider-Man has been rumored to be in development since 2019. The latest in the Ratchet and Clank franchise, Rift Apart, is also due to be released on June 11, and there’s a VR team that has made games in partnership with Oculus. Of course, as Insomniac has multiple teams, there’s the possibility that there are other projects in development that we don’t yet know about, perhaps even a game for the recently revealed PS5 PSVR headset.
Despite his success with Spec Ops: The Line, Williams has stated he’s unlikely to return to writing a game in a military setting. His pedigree would be quite fitting for a potential revival of Insomniac’s Resistance franchise, one we haven’t seen since the PlayStation 3. Either way, we’ll let you know as soon as we get more details.
