• Home
  • Latest
  • Fortune 500
  • Finance
  • Tech
  • Leadership
  • Lifestyle
  • Rankings
  • Multimedia

Trendingnow

1

Pentagon accuses Alibaba, Baidu and BYD, three of China's biggest companies, of supporting the Chinese military

2

Costco CEO Ron Vachris rose from forklift driver to the C-suite without a college degree: ‘Don’t chase a title’ is the career advice that got him there

3

'We are rapidly running out of time': Watchdog sounds Social Security alarm after 22% cut confirmed for 2032

1

Pentagon accuses Alibaba, Baidu and BYD, three of China's biggest companies, of supporting the Chinese military

2

Costco CEO Ron Vachris rose from forklift driver to the C-suite without a college degree: ‘Don’t chase a title’ is the career advice that got him there

3

'We are rapidly running out of time': Watchdog sounds Social Security alarm after 22% cut confirmed for 2032
TechGameStop

GameStop Dives Into Publishing With ‘Song of the Deep’

By
John Gaudiosi
John Gaudiosi
Down Arrow Button Icon
By
John Gaudiosi
John Gaudiosi
Down Arrow Button Icon
January 28, 2016, 9:30 AM ET
Insomniac Games

GameStop continues to diversify its business with new experiments. The latest direction the largest independent video game retailer is exploring is publishing. GameStop has partnered with independent game studio Insomniac Games to launch an original underwater side-scrolling adventure game, Song of the Deep.

The game will ship as a disc-based product for PC, Xbox One, and PlayStation 4 exclusively at GameStop and launch digitally across PC, PlayStation Store, and Xbox Marketplace in Q2 2016 for $15. Song of the Deep makes its debut at the PAX South video game convention in San Antonio today.

Mark Stanley, vice president of marketing and sales at GameStop, says this idea came about serendipitously through a series of conversations with Insomniac Games President and CEO Ted Price.

“We decided to join forces with this great creative development team and put the promotional and marketing arm of GameStop behind it,” Stanley says.

Price says GameStop (GME) has not exerted any creative influence on the development of the game and Insomniac owns the intellectual property (IP). The game follows a little Irish girl, Merryn, who builds a submarine and explores the ocean depths in search of her missing fisherman father.

“It’s been a nontraditional publisher and developer relationship,” Price says. “They trust what we’re doing.”

Insomniac has been making games for 22 years and has a track record of creating hit franchises like Ratchet & Clank and Resistance while working with Sony Computer Entertainment, and has worked with Electronic Arts (EA) on Fuse and Microsoft on Sunset Overdrive. A new Ratchet & Clank movie ships this April alongside a feature film from Blockade Entertainment and Focus Features.

For more on video games, watch:

Price says this new model offers his company a more direct route to GameStop’s devoted players. He also believes Song of the Deep will connect with this gaming audience.

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

GameStop currently has an audience of 43 million PowerUp Rewards members to tap into. The retailer also owns leading game magazine Game Informer, which has over 7 million paying subscribers.

Some details have yet to be worked out, including whether GameStop will get its branding in the opening credits of the game or on the packaging. But Stanley says all decisions will be made based on what’s best for the game.

“This is an Insomniac Games title and there’s an expectation of what their games are,” Stanley says. “It’s less important to have a GameStop branding.”

Brian Hastings, chief creative officer at Insomniac Games, says the team of 15 that’s been working on Song of the Deep for over a year has a lot of other ideas to continue the adventures of Merryn.

“We do think about doing more than one game, partly because not everything we want to do is going to fit in this first game,” Hastings says. “This story is one part of this really expansive world.”

Get Data Sheet, Fortune’s technology newsletter.

If more games do follow, Price is open to continuing this publisher arrangement with GameStop.

“We like having long-term partners that we trust and so far it’s been great,” Price says.

“GameStop has tried a number of different things over the years and this is a new area of growth and diversification,” Stanley says. “We’re learning as we go on this.”

Stanley says GameStop wants to take this game all the way through launch and then step back and assess everything before figuring out what it wants to do in the future with additional publishing agreements.

SuperData Research CEO Joost van Dreunen says GameStop is in a tough spot. The combined spending in the U.S. last year across digital games was $11 billion compared to $5 billion at retail.

“As a specialty retailer it has to adapt,” van Dreunen says. “That means for the foreseeable future that GameStop has to reduce its footprint and, now that the holiday season is over, swallow the bitter pill of layoffs. However, I’m skeptical of its ability to successfully diversify its business by taking on a publishing role. Given Insomniac’s pedigree as a developer, I have no doubt that Song of the Deep will do well, especially as it receives special attention at retail. And I commend GameStop on experimenting with ways to reinvent itself, but I strongly doubt that it will be enough to offset its inevitable losses.”

Michael Pachter, video game analyst at Wedbush Securities, doesn’t believe this will be the start of a trend.

“This is a small game, and physical sales will likely be only a few hundred thousand units,” Pachter says. “People already in stores may be cross sold the product, but it’s highly unlikely to be the type of game that gets a customer to make a trip to buy it if it is available digitally.”

About the Author
By John Gaudiosi
See full bioRight Arrow Button Icon

Latest in Tech

Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025

Most Popular

Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Fortune Secondary Logo
Rankings
  • 100 Best Companies
  • Fortune 500
  • Global 500
  • Fortune 500 Europe
  • Most Powerful Women
  • World's Most Admired Companies
  • See All Rankings
  • Lists Calendar
Sections
  • Finance
  • Fortune Crypto
  • Features
  • Leadership
  • Health
  • Commentary
  • Success
  • Retail
  • Mpw
  • Tech
  • Lifestyle
  • CEO Initiative
  • Asia
  • Politics
  • Conferences
  • Europe
  • Newsletters
  • Personal Finance
  • Environment
  • Magazine
  • Education
Customer Support
  • Frequently Asked Questions
  • Customer Service Portal
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms Of Use
  • Single Issues For Purchase
  • International Print
Commercial Services
  • Advertising
  • Fortune Brand Studio
  • Fortune Analytics
  • Fortune Conferences
  • Business Development
  • Group Subscriptions
About Us
  • About Us
  • Press Center
  • Work At Fortune
  • Terms And Conditions
  • Site Map
  • About Us
  • Press Center
  • Work At Fortune
  • Terms And Conditions
  • Site Map
  • Facebook icon
  • Twitter icon
  • LinkedIn icon
  • Instagram icon
  • Pinterest icon

Latest in Tech

Digital sovereignty isn’t the same thing as digital isolation. Asia’s governments should be careful
Commentarydata sovereignty
Digital sovereignty isn’t the same thing as digital isolation. Asia’s governments should be careful
By Leonard LimJune 10, 2026
5 hours ago
Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates (C) arrives for a closed-door interview with the House Oversight Committee on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC, on June 10, 2026.
LawBill Gates
Gates testifies on Epstein: previous Fortune investigation reveals payments to his ex-girlfriend, $1M Microsoft deal
By Eva Roytburg, Joey Cappelletti, Hannah Schoenbaum and The Associated PressJune 10, 2026
6 hours ago
How the World Cup is a high-stakes stage for Big Tech’s AI push
NewslettersCIO Intelligence
How the World Cup is a high-stakes stage for Big Tech’s AI push
By John KellJune 10, 2026
7 hours ago
Anthropic accused of ‘secret sabotage’ as Claude Fable 5 silently limits capabilities for AI researchers and developers
AIAnthropic
Anthropic accused of ‘secret sabotage’ as Claude Fable 5 silently limits capabilities for AI researchers and developers
By Sharon GoldmanJune 10, 2026
8 hours ago
A 5-week course and a guaranteed job: Meta commits $115 million to solve the skilled-trades shortage stalling its AI build-out
Future of WorkMeta
A 5-week course and a guaranteed job: Meta commits $115 million to solve the skilled-trades shortage stalling its AI build-out
By Jacqueline MunisJune 10, 2026
8 hours ago
Xbox CEO Asha Sharma
SuccessCareers
Xbox’s CEO spent her early career taking out trash and selling coupon books—she says the secret to her rise was never obsessing over a dream career
By Preston ForeJune 10, 2026
10 hours ago

Most Popular

Pentagon accuses Alibaba, Baidu and BYD, three of China's biggest companies, of supporting the Chinese military
Asia
Pentagon accuses Alibaba, Baidu and BYD, three of China's biggest companies, of supporting the Chinese military
By Kate O'Keeffe and BloombergJune 8, 2026
2 days ago
Costco CEO Ron Vachris rose from forklift driver to the C-suite without a college degree: ‘Don’t chase a title’ is the career advice that got him there
Success
Costco CEO Ron Vachris rose from forklift driver to the C-suite without a college degree: ‘Don’t chase a title’ is the career advice that got him there
By Preston ForeJune 8, 2026
2 days ago
'We are rapidly running out of time': Watchdog sounds Social Security alarm after 22% cut confirmed for 2032
Economy
'We are rapidly running out of time': Watchdog sounds Social Security alarm after 22% cut confirmed for 2032
By Nick LichtenbergJune 9, 2026
1 day ago
Analysts expected oil to surge above $200 but China has quietly kept prices half of that—and can’t for much longer
Energy
Analysts expected oil to surge above $200 but China has quietly kept prices half of that—and can’t for much longer
By Sasha RogelbergJune 10, 2026
7 hours ago
Wall Street dumped nearly $1 trillion in tech stocks by midday—then clawed it back and bought peanut butter and paint
Investing
Wall Street dumped nearly $1 trillion in tech stocks by midday—then clawed it back and bought peanut butter and paint
By Eva RoytburgJune 9, 2026
1 day ago
Current price of oil as of June 9, 2026
Personal Finance
Current price of oil as of June 9, 2026
By Joseph HostetlerJune 9, 2026
2 days ago

© 2026 Fortune Media IP Limited. All Rights Reserved. Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy | CA Notice at Collection and Privacy Notice | Do Not Sell/Share My Personal Information
FORTUNE is a trademark of Fortune Media IP Limited, registered in the U.S. and other countries. FORTUNE may receive compensation for some links to products and services on this website. Offers may be subject to change without notice.