Much is said about Microsoft’s disastrous policy around its exclusive games and today’s story confirms that successes are often based on risky decisions, the kind that no one sees except the eyes of those who are one step ahead . We don’t want to get too solemn, but it is true that if someone in Redmond had said yes to those responsible for Mavel Games, the same thing today Xbox would be in a slightly better position.
I want to be like Arkham
Something as simple as having that thought ended up germinating in the Spider-Man project as an exclusive PS4 title. A book, The Ultimate History of Video Games Vol. 2 , rescues the story of how this title developed by Imsomniac Games could fall into the hands of Microsoft and its Xbox, as a completely exclusive game but those of Phil Spencer decided to pass because, in In the words of Jay Ong (executive vice president of Marvel Games), they wanted to focus on their own franchises . That we all know what they are (good, bad and some expendable).
It all stemmed from an attempt by Marvel Games to reinvigorate superhero games after years of utter crap released in collaboration with Activision. You just have to remember the games of the first years of the 21st century, which were a slow decline of sagas that were never excellent. Unfortunately, that trend was sealed in 2014 with the release of The Amazon Spider-Man 2 : Marvel Games decided to forget about trying any longer and cut their collaboration.
But there was one fact that filled Marvel Games with hope: Batman Arkham Asylum. Rocksteady’s wonder managed to sell 10 million copies and completely changed the narrative, the gameplay, the complexity and the way of perceiving superheroes in a video game. So Marvel Games wanted to repeat that formula but away from Activision, and started looking for a partner with which to start the development of a new Spider-Man.
It ended up in the hands of Sony
The project went from hand to hand and reached Microsoft before that of the Japanese. The former, as we have told you, preferred to focus on their franchises and the latter welcomed a new exclusive IP for their consoles. Even Ong convinced Sony by telling them that “we could beat Arkham and have a game and maybe several that could drive purchases from their platform.” Now only the responsible studio was missing.
With an injection of 100 million dollars from Sony, Imsomniac Games (now part of PlayStation Studios) was chosen for its trajectory and for the latest wonder that they had developed, exclusively, for Microsoft: Sunset Overdrive , a franchise that, by the way, since 2021 it has been in the hands of the Japanese and it is not ruled out that it may have some continuation in the near future.
Of course, today and now, in 2022, Spider-Man is one of the most successful exclusive games , which will have new deliveries and which confirms that the projects are not so much what we suspect they are going to be, but what we want them to really be. And if superhero games weren’t exactly an example of quality 15 years ago, now they are, precisely because of big studios and big investments that knew how to see their potential. A pity that Microsoft was not able to do it.
