Update 6/7/21 4:20 PM PT:
The teases have culminated into a big reveal for the RYNO 8, an in-game weapon in Ratchet and Clank: Rift Apart. This inter-dimensional portal gun can summon large objects from other dimensions (read: PlayStation games) and drop them on enemies.
The RYNO 8’s ability to take literal objects from other games, like a Thunder Jaw from Horizon Zero Dawn, explains all of Insomniac’s earlier tweets where large objects from other PlayStation Studio games are seemingly being teleported through a Rift.
Hopefully this doesn’t dash any hopes for Sunset Overdrive on PlayStation.
Original story continues…
[poilib element=”accentDivider”]
Sunset Overdrive is a game published by Microsoft for the Xbox One and developed by Insomniac Games, a studio now owned by PlayStation. This begs the question: Will Sunset Overdrive ever come to PlayStation?
Sony added Insomniac Games to its PlayStation Studios lineup in 2019 after acquiring the Spider-Man developers for roughly $229 million. Fans have wondered since then if such a purchase would allow Sunset Overdrive to come to PlayStation consoles considering the IP is owned by Insomniac.
There still isn’t definitive news on that front, although Sony recently registered a trademark for the game, and Insomniac creative director Marcus Smith says there’s nothing stopping the studio from making a sequel. But today, for the first time, PlayStation actually tweeted about Sunset Overdrive and fans are freaking out.
As you can see in the tweet above, Insomniac Games made this Ratchet and Clank: Rift Apart-centered tweet that features Fizzie from Sunset Overdrive coming through a Rift Apart portal. Where it gets interesting is that the official PlayStation account quote-tweeted that tweet. Add the “#PlayStationStudiosFamily” into the mix — is Sunset Overdrive now a part of the PlayStation Studios family? — and things get interesting.
There’s no official word on what this means, but regardless, it has people in a frenzy. Gene Park, a games reporter (and waifu war correspondent per their Twitter account) at The Washington Post, responded to PlayStation’s quote tweet with “wait what,” to which Insomniac game designer, Grant Parker, responded with a smiling emoji. Curious, right?
Elsewhere, a Twitter account for an in-game Sunset Overdrive mascot named Fizzie tweeted for the first time since 2018 today, likely in response to the PlayStation tweet that has people freaking out.
Fizzie is the character coming out of the Portal seen in the original Insomniac Games tweet. All of these tweets have combined to create a storm of fans asking Sony and PlayStation to finally bring Sunset Overdrive to PlayStation consoles while others speculate on what all of this could mean.
Now, there’s also the possibility that Insomniac is just having fun. After all, Sunset Overdrive isn’t the only game that’s part of the Ratchet and Clank: Rift Apart marketing happening on Twitter today. The studio has made a similar tease on Twitter for Sucker Punch Productions’ Sly Cooper, Naughty Dog’s Uncharted series, and Guerilla’s Horizon: Zero Dawn.
In a dream world, all of these tweets are teases for Sunset Overdrive on PlayStation consoles, perhaps a new Sly Cooper game, a PlayStation 5 update for Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End, and a PS5 update for Horizon: Zero Dawn, but considering Rift Apart hits PS5 this Friday, all of this is probably marketing for the game.
Ratchet and Clank: Rift Apart hits PS5 on June 11. While waiting for that, read about how the game will feature a 60FPS ray tracing mode at launch and then check out the game’s extensive accessibility features list. Read our latest thoughts on the game in IGN’s final Ratchet and Clank: Rift Apart preview after that.
[poilib element=”accentDivider”]
Wesley LeBlanc is a freelance news writer and guide maker for IGN. The world is ready for a PS5 update for Uncharted 4. You can follow him on Twitter @LeBlancWes.
