Marvel has plans for high-quality console games

At a San Diego Comic Con panel, Marvel Games Producer Mike Jones said more Marvel console games are coming, eventually.

A fan asked Jones about any new details on the console gaming front. The fan asked if Marvel are searching for new development partners, considering the company’s licensing deal with Activision expired January last year. The two companies had been making games together since 1986, with Howard the Duck on the Commodore 64. Jones confirmed that gears are turning on the console front:

“We are very much focused on what our console strategy will be for the future. Obviously console games take a lot longer to incubate, so that will be a slower process for us.”

The latest Marvel console games have been with LEGO and Disney Infinity, which are not the AAA experiences fans desire. Marvel fans are clamoring for something akin to Batman: Arkham Knight. The last dedicated superhero game from Activision was The Amazing Spider-Man 2, a movie tie-in, and a poorly received one at that. Before that was Deadpool in 2013, which got fairly positive reviews but didn’t blow anyone away.

Marvel, of course, is being quite prolific with mobile gaming these days, releasing 8 dedicated Android and iOS games in the past 2 years. Fans have been disappointed at the lack of development time given to studios working on console games, especially with the Amazing Spider-Man movie tie-ins that were rushed to coincide with the movie release. Activision also had a tendency to focus of Spidey more than any other hero – Thor, Iron Man, and Captain America all got little more than one-off awful movie tie-ins.

After years of mediocre Batman games, DC took a different approach to its most popular hero and gave the property to Rocksteady. They spent 3-4 years making Arkham Asylum. which spawned an iconic series and redefined superhero games. Thankfully it seems like Marvel are taking the same approach going forward: 

“We are very much taking a controlled, less-is-more, quality-focused, developer-focused strategy, but it is very top of mind, and we’ll have a lot more announcements probably next year.”

The possibility of a truly great game featuring one (or more) of Marvel’s heroes is an exciting one indeed. The good news is, we already know of one upcoming Marvel game that is being made by a very talented studio. We still don’t know which character that game will be about, but expect more news in 2016. Until then, check out our list of Marvel heroes that deserve a great game!

Which Marvel character do you wanna see get a great game? Is it too much to ask for another Howard the Duck? Let us know in the comments below, and stay tuned to GameSkinny!