Yesterday, EA announced it would be shutting down Cliffhanger Games and canceling the studio’s project, Black Panther. However each EA and Marvel are adamant that this adjustments nothing for the partnership between the 2 corporations, which can nonetheless be growing no less than three video games collectively, starting with Iron Man.
Again in 2023, Marvel and EA signed a deal for three games, certainly one of which was the in-progress Iron Man recreation being developed at Motive Studio, with a second being Cliffhanger’s Black Panther. The third recreation has but to be revealed. The cancelation of Black Panther prompted questions as to the standing of this collaboration, however each EA and Marvel have since offered statements to IGN asserting that the three-game deal remains to be in place, with Motive Studio taking the lead.
“Our partnership with Marvel stays robust and our multi-title, long-term collaboration continues,” reads a press release despatched to IGN by EA attributed to EA Leisure president Laura Miele. A Marvel spokesperson additionally despatched the next assertion:
“The multi-title, long-term relationship between Marvel Video games and EA, a inventive collaboration centered on unique storytelling with numerous, beloved Marvel characters, stays robust. Growth of our console and PC titles, starting with Marvel’s Iron Man, is led by Motive Studios.”
When requested if this meant there have been nonetheless no less than three video games complete within the works, the Marvel spokesperson confirmed this was the case.
This collaboration is constant regardless of EA president Andrew Wilson’s expressed want for the corporate to maneuver “away from growth of future licensed IP that we don’t imagine will likely be profitable in our altering {industry},” suggesting that the writer nonetheless believes Marvel IP video games might be profitable. Various Marvel video games stay in growth industry-wide, together with Skydance’s Marvel 1943: Rise of Hydra, Insomniac’s Wolverine, and Arkane Lyon’s Blade.
Black Panther is the third known game EA has canceled this year, following the shuttering of two incubation tasks. The corporate has minimize a whole bunch of jobs both this year and last, whereas concurrently rising its general headcount because it staffs up on different groups engaged on video games resembling Battlefield. It additionally carried out a mandatory return to office mandate earlier this year.
Rebekah Valentine is a senior reporter for IGN. You will discover her posting on BlueSky @duckvalentine.bsky.social. Acquired a narrative tip? Ship it to [email protected].
