Marvel Is Very Closely Involved With New Avengers Game For PS4, Xbox One, And PC

The new Avengers game from Crystal Dynamics and its other co-developers is being made in very close collaboration with Marvel, it seems. Crystal Dynamics studio head Scott Amos spoke to GI.biz about the origins of the project and working with Marvel on it.

He explained that Marvel opened a dialogue with Crystal about what kind of Avengers game they wanted to make. The idea from the start, it seems, was for the Avengers game to be an "original take" on The Avengers, so it doesn't feature the likenesses of the MCU actors.

"Marvel showed up and said, 'What do you want to do?,'" Amos explained. "That's how it started. They really looked at us and said, 'Crystal, you guys are experts at making games, we're experts at The Avengers. What do you want to do? What's the original take you want to do on visuals, on story?'"

Amos explained that in the development process, Marvel is the "truth north" as it relates to the direction of the new Avengers game. Marvel's Bill Rosemann, who is the company's vice president of creative development, helps direct the team about things like what Tony Stark might say or what kinds of battle moves Hulk might perform.

Amos went on to discuss just how much Marvel is involved with the development of the new Avengers game, and it's a lot.

"They're not just collaborators, they're partners," Amos said. "They're embedded with us as a team. We talk to them daily. We send them everything we're working on, we have builds they play and get feedback. We bring them to the studio and go through it together."

"[Bill Rosemann] is 25 years at Marvel. He knows everybody. We're like, 'So we have a character, and this storyline we saw in issue x,' and he's like, 'I can get you the writer, let's go see what that person thinks'... We have this amazing collaboration with them that lets us do a little of the iconic fan service and a lot of doing an original take that makes it feel fresh and familiar."

In other news, Crystal has confirmed that the Avengers game can be played offline. If you do want to venture online, you can team up with other players. Additionally, post-release heroes and locations are free, and there are no loot boxes, but the game still does feature microtransactions.

For more on the new Avengers game, check out GameSpot's breakdown of every confirmed character so far. The Avengers game launches in May 2020.