Insomniac Games teams with GameStop for ‘Song of the Deep’

We knew Insomniac Games would reveal their new game today, but what came as an unxpected shocker was the publisher behind the new title.

GameStop, the largest independent video game retailer, is publishing Insomniac Games' new title — an underwater side-scrolling adventure game revealed today to be "Song of the Deep."

The game follows the adventure of 12-year-old girl Merryn, who builds herself a small submarine to explore the depths of the ocean in search for her missing fisherman father. While on her quest into the unknown, she discovers a new world and lost civilization.

"Combining discovery, skill, and suspense with an unforgettable narrative, this underwater journey will challenge players to explore, experiment, and skillfully navigate a vast ocean landscape," an overview of the game reads.

Song of the Deep is said to be a "passion project' inspired by the daughter of Insomniac Games' Chief Creative Officer Brian Hastings. The goal is to developer a simple message, he says: "No matter who you are, you have the ability to overcome adversity when you don't give up."

In terms of gameplay, Song of the Deep is a metroidvania-style action-adventure that'll see you explore this fantastical underwater world. Though the trailer shows off gameplay in a submarine, you will at one point discover a diving helmet, allowing Merryn to free dive outside of the submarine to explore small caves, interact with her coral knife, and communicate with sea creatures. Of course, the submarine comes with its own abilities that are unlocked by finding pieces of Formoritechnology. These abilities — Claw, Spot Light, Sonar, etc. — are acquired through exploration and at key story elements, and are considered "essential" for progressing through the game.

Insomniac Games President and CEO Ted Price calls the relationship with GameStop a "non-traditional developer-publisher relationship." Insomniac owns the intellectual property and has full creative control over the game and its development.

“This is a game that feels like an Insomniac game,” Price said. “It’s stylized and has a story relatable to a lot of players. And it feels like an indie effort.”

"We've all noticed a resurgence of indie titles over the years, and what's awesome about that is that the smaller titles tend to take more creative risks and deliver something that's very different than, say, the AAA, more realistic titles. For us as a company that thrives on creativity and loves building new worlds, that's a place we love to be as well," Price added. "When Mark [Stanley] (GameStop Senior VP of Marketing and Sales) and I were talking about how the market's evolving and looking ahead and bringing more to players, we started connecting on that particular topic, and we were serendipitously working on a pitch for Song of the Deep, and sparks ignited."

As for GameStop's involvement, the retailer sees this as an opportunity to deliver "more content and more exclusives and different kinds of games" to its 62 million-plus customers. "We've worked for many years with publishers on exclusives in our stores, etc. This is a different way to bring added value to those customers. We think it's a very good balance to maintain," said Mark Stanley.

With traditional boxed game sales slumping as publishers and console-makers shift towards an all-digital future, GameStop is looking to diversify its business. Stanley wouldn't say if GameStop is looking to create publisher partnerships to release other games, insisting the company is "completely focused" on Song of the Deep and seeing how it plays out before determining the next steps.

"Once we get this project to market, we'll look back and see should we keep doing this, what could we be doing differently," Stanley continued. "Maybe there will be more opportunities in the future."

Song of the Deep is scheduled to release in Q2 2016 for $14.99. It will be available as a digital download on PS4, Xbox One, and PC, but a physical disc version will only be available for purchase in GameStop stores. GameStop will also sell tie-in toys, PopVinyls, and other Song of the Deep merchandise. Insomniac Games has also partnered with Sterling Publishing to create a chapter book aimed at children ages 8 to 12. The book will follow the story of Merryn's journey and serve as a compliment to the game.

[GameStop, IGN, Fortune]