Ratchet and Clank: Rift Apart is just a few days away from release, and the game seems to be reviewing well. That's important, as it is one of PlayStation's first major releases for their newest console. Fans have now been given another release to celebrate Ratchet and Clank: Rift Apart, as the much-anticipated game was apparently developed without the Insomniac Games staff needing to crunch.
Over the last few years, game developers and journalists have spoken out about the prevalence of crunch in the games industry, a practice where a studio staff is overworked in the months leading up to a game's release i. In 2020, CD Projekt Red received a lot of criticism after it came to light that its development team had crunched on Cyberpunk 2077, despite making promises to the contrary.
Thankfully, Ratchet and Clank: Rift Apart fans will be able to enjoy the game and know that its development was not the product of overworked developers. This information was first stated by Grant Parker, a game designer at Insomniac Games, who proudly tweeted about the success of Ratchet and Clank: Rift Apart and added that he never crunched once during development. This was later supported by other team members at Insomniac.
This is great news for Sony and Insomniac Games, as it will be mean that Ratchet and Clank: Rift Apart release, and hopefully success, will be heralded as proof great games can be developed without crunch. Critics are already praising Ratchet and Clank: Rift Apart, and the knowledge that Insomniac made the game without widespread crunch could potentially help to boost sales. Sony acquiring of Insomniac Games is proving to be a brilliant decision and is apparently working out to be beneficial to both.
Even though crunch has led to the release of many great games, the strain on developers is unacceptable, and the process of crunch is becoming much more widely criticized by both games media and fans. Crunching is known to kill creativity and damage the health of developers, and no game is worth that cost. Studios are promoting the fact that their staff is not being forced to crunch; for example, Double Fine recently announced that Psychonauts 2 delay would not result in crunch. So, the fact that Insomniac games created a great game without crunch is definitely a reason worth celebrating.
Ratchet and Clank: Rift Apart will release on June 11th, 2021, exclusively for PlayStation 5.