New Marvel Video Games Will Not Stick To Canon

The Marvel Cinematic Universe has become known for its expansive shared continuity, with its myriad of films, television shows, and other related media being affected by the storylines of each other. As many fans know, this is set to culminate in the near future with the release of 2018’s Avengers: Infinity War.

But for another side of Marvel’s creative outputs – its growing list of video games – a different set up will be used. IGN reports that the upcoming video games Marvel will be tied to, which center around characters from across the company’s slate of characters, will not have a shared continuity with each other.

“We want to give [developers] freedom to tell their story and we want to make it an original story,” said Marvel Games Creative Director Bill Rosemann at the annual D.I.C.E. gaming summit. “We want to give our partners freedom to look at all of Marvel history and to pick from what interests them. It’s a bit like we’re saying, ‘Hey you’re the chef, you’re going to make this meal. Here’s all of the ingredients. You pick the ingredients that you like and make a new meal.”

As of now, Marvel Games has four major upcoming releases that this announcement applies to. The first of which is upcoming Spider-Man game, which will be available exclusively on the PS4, and can already be pre-ordered by eager fans.

The second is Guardians of the Galaxy: A Telltale Series, the first episode of which is expected to be released later this year.

The third is Marvel Vs. Capcom: Infinite, the latest crossover fighting game in the twenty-year partnership between the two companies.

And the latest is Square Enix’s Avengers game, which was announced just a month ago.

This business model does make sense, given the assorted production companies that Marvel Games is partnering with to make these games. It also, ultimately, creates a better business model when it comes to selling the games, as fans will be more likely to purchase an individual game without having to keep up with a shared canon.

In addition, Marvel Games wants their outputs to stand apart from the wildly popular MCU, as Rosemann also touched on.

“We’re not going to rush things, we’re not going to get things out before they’re done. We’re also not going to try to do the very tricky balancing act of trying to make a game that adapts a movie and get it out in the same window as the movie.”

As Rosemann explained, this desire for creativity and complete variety is part of why the games will stand alone from the films, as well as from each other.

“We want all of our games to tell an original, all new story. We want [our development partners] to have passion, we want them to put their stamp on the games. It’s their game. We want it to be their vision.”