EA and Marvel Games have struck up a deal to create at least three action-adventure games for consoles and PC that are based on iconic Marvel superheroes. EA explained in a post on its website that each title will tell an original story, with the first being the Iron Man game from Motive Studio we learned about last month. Separate reporting suggests the second game will be for Black Panther.
Marvel Games executive vice president Jay Ong shared thoughts on the deal:
At Marvel, we strive to find best-in-class teams who can take our characters on heroic journeys in ways they haven’t before, and collaborating with Electronic Arts will help us achieve that. We pride ourselves on being enthusiastic, creative collaborators with developers so they have the freedom to create something deeply unique and truly remarkable. The team at Motive is getting started on that with their Iron Man video game and we can’t wait for players to learn more in the far future.
His comments make it clear that we will be waiting a long time for this partnership between EA and Marvel Games to bear fruit, but we may not be completely left in the dark. In July, GamesBeat journalist Jeff Grubb reported first details on a Black Panther game in development at EA, and Grubb has reiterated today that this is the second game in the Marvel Games deal. It’s apparently very early in the works at a new studio in Seattle under the codename “Project Rainer,” with former Monolith vice president Kevin Stephens at the helm, and players will play as a new Black Panther. Details on the third game reportedly have not even been decided yet, including the star character or development studio.
Meanwhile, Dead Space remake developer Motive Studio is developing its Iron Man game as a single-player third-person adventure with a story that “taps into the rich history of Iron Man, channeling the complexity, charisma, and creative genius of Tony Stark, and enabling players to feel what it’s like to truly play as Iron Man.” However, even this game is only in the pre-production phase, so we’ve got some waiting to do before we see what it looks like.
EA’s Marvel catalog will join its existing and expanding library of Star Wars titles published through the 2010s. Speaking with Bloomberg, the company’s chief operating officer, Laura Miele, explained that the publisher has “an intentional, deliberate strategy to have a balanced portfolio.” How Marvel will bolster its gaming offerings remains to be seen, but it is clear that the comic book universe will be a large pillar in the coming years. Since the deal will see EA making at least three games, even more could be on the way in the future if this first batch is successful.
