Developer Insomniac Games stated earlier yesterday that it would like to bring its over-the-top action packed game ,Sunset Overdrive, to PC but the decision is not one for the studio to make. Instead, Microsoft is the one who gets to make the call, according to Insomniac
In reply to fans on the micro-blogging platfrom Twitter, the developer team confessed their desires to bring the game to PC but added that their hands are bound. They’re at the beck and call of Microsoft, and the Xbox team is the only one who gets to make the final decision.
@MegapiemanPHD we’d love it if it could happen but ball is in Xbox’s court on it
— Insomniac Games (@insomniacgames) September 26, 2016
@Heldengeist @MegapiemanPHD @Xbox @XboxP3 we’d love for it to come to PC, though it’s up to Xbox on that one.
— Insomniac Games (@insomniacgames) September 26, 2016
Sunset Overdrive was launched back in October 2014 for the Xbox One. Part of the reason why Insomniac had decided to make it an Xbox One console exclusive was due to the fact that Microsoft reportedly allowed the studio to completely own the rights to the Sunset Overdrive franchise. In comparison, it doesn’t really own some of the brands that it is most closely associated with, including Spyro the Dragon, Ratchet & Clank, and Resistance.
Though it’s not immediately clear as to why Insomniac would not be able to do as it wants with the franchise it legally owns(in the case of Sunset Overdrive) and bring it to PC, or in that matter, any platform of it’s choice. Microsoft being the main publisher likely means that it has the right to call the shots about where the game is released, while Insomniac could go ahead and make more games in the series if it wanted to. We have followed up with Microsoft in an attempt to get more details.
In September 2014, Insomniac had mentioned that it had no existing plans to bring the game to PC, but has not completely ruled out a release for desktop users sometime down the road.
I don’t know what the future holds, Right now there’s no plans for a PC version of the game. We’re just working hard to finish up [the Xbox One version]. We’re going to support it post-launch and then we’ll see what happens in the future. But there’s no plans. We aren’t planning a PC version or anything like that.
Insomniac Games marketing lead James Stevenson said at the time.
An advert saying that Sunset Overdrive was soon coming to PC emerged not too long before the game came out in 2014, but Microsoft termed it as a “simple mistake.”
If Sunset Overdrive does one day successfully make its way to PC, it won’t exactly be the first Xbox One game to make the jump. Launch titles such as Ryse: Son of Rome and Dead Rising 3 did the same thing much earlier.
