We've known for a while now that the upcoming Marvel video games won't be tied to the Marvel Cinematic Universe but that doesn't mean those making them aren't taking inspiration from how Kevin Feige is running things over at Marvel Studios. In an interview with GameSpot, Marvel Games vice president and executive producer Mike Jones actually revealed that their approach is near identical.
Just like Marvel Studios pairs up with directors best suited to certain characters, so does Marvel Games take everything from the character to tone and more into account while choosing the right developers.
"Marvel Studios decides who directs a film based on a character’s genre and type of story they’re in, so we’re similarly thinking the same way of who would be perfect for a Spider-Man or an Avengers game experience. We want to make sure that we pair the right characters and the right franchises with the best possible developers. There is a clinical portfolio management excel spreadsheet component to this process, but more importantly, it’s about passion. Teams are going to work on a game for three or four years, so the quality and the authenticity of the experience lives or dies by the passion and the vision of the teams that we’re working with. We’re constantly looking for development teams and publishers who love Marvel and are excited to tell a story or bring a particular experience to life. We’re here to support that drive. We think of ourselves as kind of facilitators in that sense. We want each of our partners to be the vision holder for their games."
That definitely sounds like the right approach and while he wouldn't reveal any solid intel on what other titles might be in the works, Jones teased a wide variety of new types of games on the way.
"We absolutely have a roadmap. We have some incredible mobile, console, and VR games planned that I can’t announce or talk about today. We are curating our portfolio and trying to find the best match for character, partner, genre, platform and trying to not just see who wants a license to make a game. We’re actually very active in planning what are the right experiences for the right franchises for the right platforms, as well as finding the right partners who can provide the best of that."
Video games based on comic book properties have always been a little hit and miss as there's an Iron Man 2 for every Batman: Arkham Asylum! Marvel Games clearly mean business, though, so that should give us a lot of reasons to be excited about what's to come. Spider-Man PS4 is coming our way next year and The Avengers is in the works but what's beyond that remains to be seen! Thoughts?