Story Highlights

  • During a discussion with Sony, Insomniac was asked to make changes to Spider-Man 2.
  • The gaming giant was not pleased with the quality of the game’s later parts, leading to content being cut.
  • Insomniac then focused on reworking and putting parts of the game together for a cohesive experience despite the cuts.

Spider-Man 2 has given gamers very little reason to complain. With excellent reviews and record-breaking day-one sales, there is no denying that this game has been a major success.

However, this success did not come easy for Insomniac. In a new interview, creative director Bryan Intihar discussed Sony’s involvement in the game, pointing to a time when the gaming giant asked for content to be reworked due to quality concerns.

Why it matters: This incident highlights the difficulties of game development, showing that even a world-class studio like Insomniac can fall victim to the pressure of creating big games.

YouTube video

Recalling a point in Spider-Man 2’s development, Bryan Intihar pointed to a heated discussion with Sony after concerns about the game’s quality were brought up. He said:

“We realized that the back half of the game, we weren’t gonna make it.”

As Insomniac carried out its vision for a narrative involving Venom, Sony stepped in and asked the team to make changes after it realized that the traditional level of quality expected from PlayStation was not being met.

This may have been caused by poor management and time constraints since Insomniac had just released its last game two years before Spider-Man 2 debuted. Bryan Intihar then confirmed Insomniac cut parts of the game to rearrange the content and said:

“I was scribbling down, if we cut these things how we could connect it all back.”

Not too long ago, Tony Todd suggested most of the lines he recorded for Venom did not make it into the final game. Putting two and two together, Insomniac likely cut much of Venom’s story from the game.

Fans have also caught on to this, criticizing the last part of the game due to rushed pacing and an unsatisfying conclusion. This could have resulted from the changes made later in development, leading to a worse ending than Insomniac had initially planned.

Marvel's Spider-Man 2 Venom

Because of such hurdles and constraints, Spider-Man 2 fell short of winning any awards at TGA 2023.

Many fans are now hoping for a more ambitious sequel to the game, though there is little doubt that Insomniac achieved many impressive feats with this title, including nearly instant fast travel on the PS5 console.

Fortunately, Insomniac’s cut content might not go to waste. These parts will likely be included in the Venom spin-off, which was confirmed as part of a recently leaked roadmap.

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Avinash Jaisrani
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