It has not been a good week or so for Insomniac Games. After missing out on any awards at The Game Awards – even with seven nominations -, they’re now allegedly the victims of a ransomware attack, with assets relating to Marvel’s Wolverine being stolen – and subsequently leaked -, as well as personal and sensitive information of the developers employees being held for ransom, including Marvel’s Spider-Man voice actor Yuri Lowenthal.
Insomniac Suffer Ransomware Attack
Spotted originally by cyberdaily, a group called Rhysida, a ransomware hacker group, has reportedly successfully attacked Insomniac Games, and came away with a plethora of information Insomniac surely wouldn’t want anyone to have. From images for Marvel’s Wolverine – which can be found on multiple socials at this point, with minimal effort – to passport pictures, addresses, and more for employees (and ex-employees), this isn’t a small issue for Insomniac to solve.
Also included in the hacking proof is a multitude of signed, confidential documents, a few emails, and more, but it’s all pretty extensive as proof goes.
Since posting the information on socials, Rhysida have made their demands:
“With just 7 days on the clock, seize the opportunity to bid on exclusive, unique, and impressive data,” Rhysida said on its leak site.
“Open your wallets and be ready to buy exclusive data. We sell only to one hand, no reselling, you will be the only owner!”
With an auction underway, the group has made Insomniac – and the world – aware of their asking price, a small amount of fifty bitcoin, or $2 million, as a starting point for their auction. Whether Insomniac bow to the demands is another question, but if someone were able to and inclined to do so, they could get a very early, very expensive look at Marvel’s Wolverine. Before that happens though, hopefully, the group sees sense and decides to return or delete the information they’ve stolen.
Marvel’s Wolverine – Mostly Unknown
With the release of Marvel’s Spider-Man less than two months ago, it was widely expected that Insomniac’s efforts would focus now on the upcoming Marvel’s Wolverine, which we know very little about since its surprise and shock announcement two years ago. Insomniac has seemingly mastered the art of a constant turntable of AAA releases, with the likes of Marvel’s Spider-Man 1 & 2, Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales, and Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart all releasing in the last five years.
Many expect Marvel’s Wolverine to release either late next year in 2024, or early 2025, but as any developer will attest to, leaks of any nature hurt the developers and the final product, as well as the expectations and excitement for gamers – look no further than the recently leaked GTA 6 trailer for proof of that -, so these leaks aren’t a good thing, even if it does represent an opportunity for us to gleam some information for the game itself.
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