Back in the summer of 2009 the stars seemed to be aligning for fans of Marvel comic books. Iron Man had hit the previous summer and the foundation was laid for a massive Marvel franchise that would come to dominate pop culture. Meanwhile, something equally interesting was happening in the world of video games. Batman: Arkham Asylum was released for the PC, PS3, and Xbox 360. A superhero game like no other, it brought an iconic character to life with intense polish and a clear respect for the source material. It seemed like video games were prime to adopt comic book stories as a prosperous genre, just as blockbuster films had.
Now here we are, six years later. Marvel’s Cinematic Universe has dominated on multiple mediums, but still no serious attempt at entering the world of video games. We’ve got a cheap Diablo clone on Steam (Marvel Heroes), a few mobile titles (Marvel: Puzzle Quest) and kids’ titles designed to enhance toy sales (Lego Marvel Super Heroes). But for the core gamer, there’s really nothing on the horizon. While Warner Brothers & DC Comics seem intent on pushing forward with more gaming adaptations (a Suicide Squad game is heavily rumored to hit in 2017), Marvel is hesitant. It begs the question, what’s stopping Marvel from making a comparable product? WB’s latest release, Batman: Arkham Knight, is blowing up the sales charts. But the operating hands behind The Avengers, Guardians of the Galaxy and more still don’t see the potential.
It hasn’t always been like this. If you take a look back, Marvel used to have an active hand in game development. Iron Man, Captain America and Thor all saw game adaptations hit around their relevant film adaptation. Activision had a steady business adapting the X-Men, Spiderman, and Deadpool properties into games up until early last year, when their licensing contract expired. Back in 2012, footage leaked out from an Australian THQ studio of a cancelled Avengers game developed for release alongside the film. All of these games faded away, almost as if taken out by a mysterious supervillian in the night.
The sudden absence can likely be tracked to a moment back in 2009 when Walt Disney purchased Marvel Entertainment for $4 billion. The sale was completed in 2010. Due to existing agreements, Disney didn’t fully distribute Marvel films independently until 2012, with the release of The Avengers.
One more thing to note about Disney: they’ve never been particularly skilled in the realm of video games. The company recently folded their games development brand, Disney Interactive, into the consumer products division. This decision mirrors their recent handling of video games as a whole. Currently, Disney’s biggest contribution to gaming is Disney Infinity. For those of you who may not have a young kid in your life, Infinity is a game revolving around real world action figures, which enter the game as playable characters. It’s a merchandiser’s wet dream. The toy-game hybrid has been wildly successful and in 2014, integrated Marvel heroes into the franchise. If you want to play with Iron Man on a next-gen console, your only hope is picking him up in plastic form first.
What’s especially odd is that this anti-gaming stance doesn’t apply to Disney’s other major acquisition in the past few years. Star Wars is the next big franchise to enter the Infinity family. But Star Wars: Battlefront, a big budget shooter from EA, will be released soon, building off the release hype for Star Wars: The Force Awakens. EA has also been made the exclusive partner for all future Star Wars games, including an upcoming action-adventure title from the creator of Uncharted.
So what exactly is stopping Disney from taking the same steps with Marvel properties? Presently, their future plans in the world of games only include continued collaborations with Lego and a new narrative adventure from Telltale (the digital publisher that’s previously adapted The Walking Dead and Game of Thrones). The release of Arkham Knight casts a big shadow over Marvel. Will they finally respond?
Follow Chris Berg on Twitter @Mushroomer25.