Pay up, or suffer the consequences.
Rhysida, the hacker group that breached Sony subsidiary Insomniac Games on December 12, demanded ransom for the terabytes of data it stole. Rhysida gave Insomniac owner Sony seven days to comply.
But since it received no cooperation from the developer, the hacker retaliated by publishing almost all of the data it stole from it.
The hacker initially asked for 50 Bitcoins, or an equivalent of $2 million, and because of failing to comply, Insomniac Games is risking a lot more.
This happens because the data the hacker group stole, contains personal data of current and former Insomniac employees, such as passport scans and compensation figures, and much more..
And making things even worse for its business, the leaked data that contains more than 1.3 million files, also contains all kinds of internal documents, emails, Slack messages, slideshow presentations about upcoming titles, internal company communications
Going from worse to even more worse, the leaked data also included details on the Marvel’s Wolverine, the upcoming PlayStation 5 exclusive game that the studio is presently working on
According to reports, the files that were leaked to the internet by the hacker group, have information on Wolverine’s release date, playable characters, and plot details, as well as animation and gameplay videos, design documents, and more.
Allegedly, there’s even a bootable build of Wolverine in the files.
There is also information that confirmed Wolverine is planned to be the first in a trilogy of games starring X-Men characters.
The information is revealed in a file that publishes an agreement between Marvel and Sony Interactive Entertainment, signed by both Isaac Perlmutter, Marvel’s chairperson of entertainment, and Jim Ryan, Sony’s president.
The document is effective as of 26 July 2021 and lists three upcoming X-Men games to be published under the agreement, the first being Wolverine and the rest as yet unnamed.
According to the agreement, Sony is expected to spend at least $120 million on each title.
It's suggested that Rhysida said only 98% of the 1.67 terabytes of data it stole has been uploaded.
As the remaining 2%, the hackers said that they were sold, without explaining who bought them.
Insomniac Games has an impressive history of developing top-selling games, particularly on PlayStation consoles.
A spokesperson for the hacker group told the publication that Insomniac Games and Sony were the specific targets, claiming money was the only motive.
"Yes, we knew who we were attacking," a Rhysida spokesperson said.
"We knew that developers making games like this would be an easy target. We were able to get the domain administrator within 20–25 minutes of hacking the network. Sony has launched an investigation, but it would be better in the backyard."
In all, the devastating hack is probably worse than the massive Grand Theft Auto VI breach from 2022, where the hackers breached the company from a hotel room.
As one of the industry's most accomplished and successful developers, it has an enormous audience of fans who will likely avail themselves of the leaked information about upcoming titles.
The leaks also expose internal company information that may be of interest to Sony's direct competitors, such as Microsoft.
However, there is no guarantee that the information leaked is up to date.
Remedy Entertainment, the Finnish video game developer known for the first two entries in the Max Payne franchise and the Alan Wake franchise, sympathizes with the Insomniac Games team after its data was hacked.
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