Insomniac Games Acknowledges Hack and Promises to Work on Leaked Wolverine Game as Scheduled

After hackers compromised systems belonging to game developer Insomniac Games and posted the stolen information online, including details of a previously unknown Wolverine game, the developers finally acknowledged the incident and promised that the work on the game would continue unabated.

Gaming studios and publishers are among the most sought-after companies by ransomware attackers and data thieves. The past few years have seen countless examples of companies in this industry that have suffered this type of attack.

While the studio didn't immediately acknowledge the incident, its parent company, Sony, issued a brief statement about the situation.

"We are aware of reports that Insomniac Games has been the victim of a cyber security attack. We are currently investigating this situation," saida Sony spokesperson for Eurogamer. "We have no reason to believe that any other SIE or Sony divisions have been impacted."

The ransomware group asked for $2 million in Bitcoin and threatened to release all the information they stole in seven days.

"With just 7 days on the clock, seize the opportunity to bid on exclusive, unique, and impressive data. Open your wallets and be ready to buy exclusive data. We sell only to one hand, no reselling, you will be the only owner!" the hackers promised, according to a CyberDaily report.

The deadline came and went, and the group posted the data. Now, Insomniac Games issued a formal statement regarding the situation and the previously unannounced video game.

"Thank you for the outpouring of compassion and unwavering support," said the studio. "It's deeply appreciated. We're both saddened and angered about the recent criminal cyberattack on our studio and the emotional toll it's taken on our dev team. We have focused inwardly for the last several days to support each other. We are aware that the stolen data includes personal information belonging to our employees, former employees, and independent contractors."

"It also includes early development details about Marvel's Wolverine for PlayStation 5. We continue working quickly to determine what data was impacted. This experience has been extremely distressing for us. We want everyone to enjoy the games we develop as intended and as our players deserve. However, like Logan...Insomniac is resilient. Marvel's Wolverine continues as planned. The game is in early production and will no doubt greatly evolve throughout the development, as do all our plans," the studio added.

The hack itself seems to differ little from what we would expect, but the nature of the stolen data shows why criminals use it as a leverage tool.