Hacker group Rhysida made good on a promise to leak gaming and personal data related to Insomniac Games. This has caused a rallying surge of support from game developers in the wake of these personal data breaches.

Spider-Man 2 studio hacked

The Spider-Man developer refused the ransom demand of 50 Bitcoin (BTC), which is equivalent to around $2 million.

This has resulted in the sharing of sensitive information online about the company’s gaming projects, but more importantly personal details of Insomniac staff. IGN reported that the data leak by the ransomware group released 1.67 terabytes of data, made up of more than 1.3 million files.

We have reached out to Sony for comment.

The blackmail demand to Insomniac

Insomniac received a threat from Rysida stating that the developer had seven days to agree to the ransom or the sensitive information would be leaked.

Insomniac Games is a Sony studio and the PlayStation manufacturers told Eurogamer, “We are aware of reports that Insomniac Games has been the victim of a cyber security attack. We are currently investigating this situation. We have no reason to believe that any other SIE or Sony divisions have been impacted.”

The sensitive data has now been released via social media, hours after the ransom deadline passed.

Gaming community shows their support

Other gaming studios have shown their dismay at the leaks.

Cory Barlog, God of War developer shows his support for Insomniac. Whilst Remedy Studios have commented on the personal information being shared as truly “disgraceful and shameful.”

💙insomniac✊

— the fake cory balrog (@corybarlog) December 19, 2023

Our sympathies to @insomniacgames and all the affected team members. After all the effort and dedication they have poured into their games, they didn't deserve this. No one does. The hackers also leaked employee's personal information, which is truly disgraceful and shameful.

— Remedy Entertainment (@remedygames) December 19, 2023

Control 2 writer Eric Stirpē goes further to say the leaks were in fact “malicious blackmailing” by the hacker group.

What happened to Insomniac is not a “leak;” it was a malicious blackmailing by hackers that dragged people’s personal info and privacy into the mix. Every outlet, every influencer, using material procured by these hackers in their own “news” and “content” should be ashamed.

— Eric Stirpē (@stirpicus) December 19, 2023

Spider-Man 2 set gaming sales records to become the fastest-selling Playstation Studios game ever according to Sony. Sony’s homegrown titles had a positive year in review with other titles such as Final Fantasy XVI the standout performers for the company in 2023.

Image Credit: Pexels.

Brian-Damien Morgan