Spider-Man’s Sony exclusivity might have some PlayStation fans pointing and laughing, but it is actually bad news for everybody who plans on playing Marvel’s Avengers.
Ever since the official reveal that an Avengers game is incoming, Marvel fans have wondered whether there could be a connection between it and Spider-Man. Most thought not for a number of reasons. First of all, Marvel’s Spider-Man, and the upcoming sort-of sequel Miles Morales, was developed by Insomniac Games. Meanwhile, Marvel’s Avengers has been developed by Square Enix and Crystal Dynamics.
Despite the odds being stacked against Spidey becoming a video game Avenger, this week, it was announced that he will be teaming up with Thor and the gang. However, the web-slinger will only be doing so on PlayStation, since Sony owns the rights to the hero. That has invoked a number of different reactions from those planning on buying and playing Marvel’s Avengers.
Some have declared that the Spidey announcement has helped them decide on what platform they will play the game. Meanwhile, PS stalwarts have been busy poking fun at anyone who will play the game on Xbox and PC. It’s bad news for gamers playing Avengers on those two platforms, for sure, but it also sucks for people planning to play the game on PS4 and PS5.
Spider-Man will arrive in-game sometime in 2021. It will be incredibly cool to see him there, for sure. However, Spider-Man will not be able to be a part of the game’s main storyline. Any additional content that furthers the game’s story will have to exclude Marvel’s flagship hero since that content will be exclusive to PlayStation. Honestly, it feels a lot like Sony’s falling out with Disney all over again.
In fact, this is further proof that Sony’s Spidey exclusivity is damaging Marvel’s hottest property. A full Spider-Man/Avengers crossover in the video game world has the potential to be something very special. Unfortunately, thanks to Sony’s unwillingness to share, this has all the ingredients to be a diluted version of what it truly could be. Instead of an in-depth new chapter in the story, Marvel’s Avengers will tell that introduces Spider-Man to the game, it will just be the ability for PS players to use the web-slinger in missions that they have probably already completed. It also diminishes the chance of the game including crossplay.
