Spider-Man Was Going To Include Multiplayer?
Spidey in multiplayer?
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The files for the recently released Marvel’s Spider-Man PC version — a remastered version of the 2018’s PlayStation 4 original —have revealed that Insomniac Games had plans for a two-player gaming mode that would include both the Peter Parker and Miles Morales’ Spider-Men. However, it would seem that the company abandoned the idea, for one reason or another, despite the fandom dreaming of a multiplayer mode for Marvel’s Spider-Man games. Perhaps in the sequel.
As reported by Kotaku, the screenshots and text files were shared by a modder named DniweTamp on Twitter, pointing out to something called “Superior Spider-Man,” in which either Parker or Morales receives a winning message. Another piece of “photographic” evidence points toward different game settings associated with co-op play, as well as reference to different color-coded teams and corresponding character models. Admittedly, this isn’t a lot to go off of, but it does point out toward Insomniac experimenting with the idea of co-op play at some point during the game’s development.
In retrospect, it would seem that the narrative of Marvel’s Spider-Man game was always geared towards the possibility of co-op and multiplayer gameplay. The single-player story concludes with Parker beginning to train Morales as the new Wall-Crawler. After the first game proved successful, Sony did what it does best — pressing hard on its developers to make a sequel — and in 2020, we finally got to swing between the buildings as Morales himself in Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales. However, not even Morales had multiplayer, despite the fandom’s demands for one.
Sony may have a different plan for its titles regarding multiplayer gaming. For example, when Spider-Man 2 was announced, Sony stated that it would be a single-player game, despite featuring both Parker and Morales in the trailer. But this is susceptible to change, and we have reasons to doubt that a Spider-Man–based multiplayer game still isn’t out the window; and looking at the release history of 2018’s Spider-Man, we can, at the very least, speculate about the future of the gaming series.
Peter Parker of the original 2018 Spider-Man game didn’t get a Sam Raimi suit at launch, despite being one of fans’ favorite, until it did. After that, the game most certainly wasn’t scheduled for a PC release, and we eventually got the remastered version of the game once Sony decided to expand to the PC market. And a few months back, Sony purchased Bungie, a studio credited with several prominent multiplayer games.
But Sony did more by acquiring Bungie; it acquired both the company’s assets, which would allow the publisher to significantly accelerate the development of its live-service games on different platforms, and it bought Bungie’s established access to a wider gaming market. It’s a brilliant business move backed up by Sony’s statement about its plans to release at least a dozen new live-service games in the following years. But where does that leave Spider-Man?
Well, considering that some of the assets for the online version of Spider-Man already exist, it’s not impossible for Sony to greenlight the development once the audience’s demand becomes so high that it has to warrant a supply.
