element
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That video from 2016 gives no reference of time outside "a long time". What does that mean? That video even suggests WHY they were an ideal candidate for Spiderman BECAUSE of Sunset! The fact that they didn't have their next big game lined up makes it a perfect match.
Actually that isn't correct. Bryan Intihar (former 1up Show/EGM) is the creative director on Spiderman, who was previously Director of Project Managment for the entire studio, and specifically Sunset Overdrive.The director of Sunset isn't on Spider-Man, he went on to work on VR projects. The Spider-Man deal was also signed around the time Sunset shipped. It was an incredibly lucrative deal for all parties involved, Insomniac wouldn't have turned it down.
If Sunset 2 was greenlit, I'd honestly think they would have passed or worked a deal that it would be their game after Sunset 2 was complete. Considering Sunset was the largest game they worked on at the time, and now they are saying Spiderman is larger than Sunset, two teams just isn't realistic without making major changes to the studios culture and processes. Everyone I talk with about Insomniac talks about how much of a family it feels, and that is something they hold as a core value. Expanding to a 400 person studio makes that near impossible.If anything they would've expanded the teams.
This is all fantasy land. Again it is more of a statement of MS mismanagement of the external partners and the games they make. This goes all the way back to the Original Xbox with Psychonauts.