A videogame from the febrile imagination of Guillermo del Toro and featuring designs by comic book artist Guy Davis always sounded promising to us, and from its announcement in 2010, everyone involved in the production of Insane (or inSANE, if you like the whole stylised name thing) were positive about its chances of success.
Its brief teaser trailer hinted at something horror-themed and tentacle-filled, and there was talk of a series of possible sequels, and perhaps even the possibility of a spin-off movie. But ongoing problems behind the scenes at publisher THQ have led to the untimely cancellation of Insane - which is frustrating news since, with a release scheduled for next year, the game must have already been some way into production.
As THQ tightens its belt and pursues what it deems to be more sure-fire hits, we’ve already seen Tomonobu Itagaki (the former creator of the modern Ninja Gaiden series) have his Devil’s Third receive the sharp end of the publisher’s axe. Instead, THQ is concentrating on games such as Darksiders II and another Saints Row sequel, while the rights to Insane revert to del Toro.
Although this is a serious blow to the project, it doesn’t exactly spell certain doom; True Crimes: Hong Kong was scrapped by Activision in 2011, but was snapped up by Square Enix and renamed Sleeping Dogs six months later, and Itagaki's Devil's Third is still in production.
It’s just possible that, with a name like Guillermo del Toro behind it, Insane will also find another interested party who’ll fund the balance of its development. We'll keep you posted on this subject.
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