The third installment in Insomniac Games’ Resistance series of first-person shooters came out nearly 10 years ago and, although it may have been forgotten by some gamers, others are still hoping for a continuation of the story about aliens invading Earth. And it seems that even Insomniac Games at one point had plans to keep the series going.
A couple of months after the release of Resistance 3 in 2011, CEO Ted Price announced that Insomniac Games had “no definitive plans” to work on additional titles in the franchise. The reason for this decision was not entirely clear because, while the third game didn’t break any sales records, it sold fairly well and received primarily positive reviews.
It seems that the studio eventually changed course on that decision and Insomniac pitched Resistance 4 to Sony, but was ultimately turned down. During an episode of the PlayStation podcast Sacred Symbols, game developer Colin Moriarty revealed that friends from within Insomniac had shared this tidbit of information. Apparently, the proposal to make a fourth game in the Resistance series was rejected because Sony felt that there were too many post-apocalyptic games already in development.
At the time, four other titles with similar post-apocalyptic vibes were concurrently in pre-development for the PS3: Killzone Shadow Fall, Horizon Zero Dawn, Days Gone, and The Last of Us. More specifically, Sony felt that the premise of Resistance 4 sounded too similar to that of Naughty Dog’s The Last of Us and didn’t want the two titles competing with each other or perhaps causing gamer fatigue. According to Moriarty, “Resistance was shut down at that point.”
While this might be disheartening for some fans to hear, the news doesn’t mean that Resistance has been put to rest forever. At this point, The Last of Us 2 has released to an overwhelmingly positive reception, and excitement is only growing for Guerilla Games’ Horizon Forbidden West as the game enters the final stages of development. Gamers’ appetite for post-apocalyptic settings has not waned, and the prospect of Resistance 4 might sound more appealing to Sony now or in the future.
At first glance, The Last of Us and the Resistance games might seem very dissimilar, with the first telling the story of a deadly fungus that transforms humans and animals into hostile mutants and the second presenting an alternative history during an alien invasion of Earth. However, the aliens in Resistance grow their army by infecting humans with a virus that speeds up evolution and causes a range of mutations. And although the first game took place in the UK, Resistance 2 and 3 were set in a post-apocalyptic United States, much like The Last of Us.
The Resistance series is available on PS3.
Source: True Trophies