PlayStation exclusive Resistance 4 cancelled due to post-apocalyptic fatigue - report

By Kes Eylers-Stephenson,

Sony apparently halted the development of a fourth game in Insomniac's staple PS3 series, Resistance. Reportedly, the company did so because it was concerned that it had too many post-apocalyptic games in development at the time.

The report comes from Colin Moriarty on his 153rd episode of the Sacred Symbols podcast at the 02:03:37 mark. Moriarty notes that he was told the overload of post-apocalyptic games in the first-party — Killzone Shadow Fall, Horizon Zero Dawn, Days Gone, and The Last of Us were all being developed or in pre-production at the time — was an issue that PlayStation was 'cognisant' of during the PS3 era. The three mainline Resistance games in the series had done well (ignore Burning Skies, please) and so another in the series was pitched by Insomniac. Remember, this was before Sony had bought the developer, so the studio held a little less clout over what projects it could make. "Resistance 4 was pitched to [PlayStation] and [...] they declined Resistance 4 because it sounded too similar to The Last of Us and they didn't want the two games overlapping with each other. So, Resistance was shut down at that point." Moriarty is a reliable source with friends who worked at the studio and rarely speaks about the deep bowels of the industry unless he is saying something with absolute certainty.

Fans of first-party PlayStation IP — and indeed, those fans of the underrated Resistance franchise — might be disappointed in this news. However, it is worth noting two things before the tears begin to well up. The first is that the decision was apparently made to prevent the PlayStation exclusive lineup from becoming overloaded with post-apocalyptic games. Ultimately, it seems like a decision made to increase the variation required of PlayStation's first-party output and thus would prevent gamer burnout. And even if that particular game was cancelled, Resistance might yet make a return. The first party stable is producing excellent titles, but the gamer-drain on apocalyptic settings has been replaced by third-person action-adventure games. A first-person shooter would be a welcome addition to the PlayStation Studios published games: the Resistance, Killzone, and SOCOM IPs all have the capacity to be that title.

The second item to note is that the branch of Insomniac responsible for Resistance would go on to make Fuse for Activision. The company was trying to leave behind working for Sony in a second-party capacity at this point and the abject failure of Fuse was likely one of contributing factors in Insomniac CEO Ted Price's eventual decision to sell the studio to Sony.

Well, well, well. What do you think of this news? Were you a Resistance fan? If you are, I still haven't played the series but a few of the games are inaccessible unless I buy a PS3 again. Is it worth going back or should I hold my breath for an updated collection? See you in the comments!

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Written by Kes Eylers-Stephenson

Editor Kes is our resident expert in PlayStation and Sony news. He writes about PS5 exclusives like Horizon, The Last of Us, God of War, and Death Stranding 2 using experience from years of playing PlayStation games. He also covers PS Plus and trophy news, as well as his favorite games — The Witcher 3, Assassin’s Creed, and some indie gems — before an evening swim.