Square Enix, fresh off the success of the long-awaited Final Fantasy XV, is now set to dive into another massively popular franchise.
Square Enix and Marvel Entertainment have announced a multi-year partnership for several titles, with the first game to be produced known as The Avengers Project.
The Avengers Project Trailer
Marvel announced its partnership with Square Enix through a Twitter post that contained a trailer for The Avengers Project.
The video revealed a chaotic scene showing a few prominent equipment used by the Avengers, including Thor's Mjollnir, Iron Man's glove, and Captain America's shield. The items, however, are not being used by the Marvel superheroes, as they are discarded on top of rubble in what seems like a decimated battlefield.
Not much else can be surmised from the trailer, though the hashtag of #Reassemble at the end of it hints that the events in the game will be in the aftermath of the splitting of the Avengers after Captain America: Civil War. As such, The Avengers Project, which is likely just a working title, will either happen before or alongside the events of The Avengers: Infinity War.
There is also the possibility that The Avengers Project will happen in a timeline that is completely independent from the Marvel Cinematic Universe though, a speculation that is being considered given the length of time needed to develop games and Infinity War being just a year and a half away from its May 2018 release.
Marvel, Square Enix Partnership A Big Deal
Aside from the battle-worn items, the trailer also reveals that the developers which will be working on The Avengers Project are Crystal Dynamics and Eidos Montreal. Crystal Dynamics is known for its recent work on the Tomb Raider franchise, while Eidos Montreal is the studio behind Deus Ex.
Crystal Dynamics and Eidos Montreal have both been praised for their work, which has driven up excitement for The Avengers Project.
Fans have long been waiting for Marvel to launch a video game franchise for its characters similar to Rocksteady's Arkham series for DC's Batman, and with Crystal Dynamics and Eidos Montreal behind the scenes, such high expectations have a likely possibility of being reached.
Will The X-Men And The Fantastic Four Be In The Avengers Project?
One of the most exciting prospects of a Square Enix-Marvel partnership for video games, however, is that Marvel has retained the video game licenses for all of its characters, unlike the movie licenses that it has signed with 20th Century Fox and Sony Picture for X-Men and the Fantastic Four. If The Avengers Project will not tie in with the Marvel Cinematic Universe, slipping in the X-Men and the Fantastic Four is a possibility.
However, before gamers get their hopes up, a reminder needs to be made that Marvel has been favoring content using characters that it has film rights to. Marvel can legally add Wolverine to The Avengers Project, but it might not do so as it would promote movies that will be made by other studios.
Spider-Man, however, is a completely different scenario, with the shared custody arrangement that Marvel has struck with Sony for the web slinger. Spider-Man even has his own exclusive PlayStation 4 game coming, and so it makes sense for him to continue in the video game industry as part of The Avengers Project.
