Sunset Overdrive to use Xbox One cloud, campaign playable offline

Sunset Overdrive developer Insomniac Games plans to consistently update the game in response to player feedback with the help of Xbox One cloud technology, although the game's campaign will be playable offline, said CEO Ted Price in an interview with Game Informer.

Price said last month that the increased connectivity next-generation consoles provide will allow for a "two-way conversation" between Insomniac and Sunset Overdrive players. He also pointed out that developers are prevented from doing that on existing consoles by restrictive content publishing policies, saying, "You actually have to jump through a lot of hoops to get [content updates] out there."

Sony and Microsoft are removing those restrictions for the next generation, Price told Game Informer, which allows developers to deliver more regular changes and updates, and make tweaks based on player behavior and feedback. "We'll have an opportunity to create a much more living world," said Price.

According to Price, the Xbox One cloud makes that call-and-response development possible.

"Some of the hardcore data collection, correlation and translation that we expect to do is difficult and takes a lot of horsepower, and that is one aspect of the cloud that is attractive to us," Price explained. "We are going to be relying on heavy back-end services to churn through the data we get from players to understand what they're telling us and what they're doing in the game."

Price noted that Sunset Overdrive's base campaign will be playable offline in its entirety, although of course, none of the aforementioned cloud-powered updates will be available without connecting to Xbox Live.

Insomniac unveiled Sunset Overdrive, an open-world action title with a colorful aesthetic, with a CG trailer during Microsoft's E3 2013 press briefing. It is in development exclusively on Xbox One. For more, check out our own interview with Price from E3, and watch the debut trailer here.