Update: After the leak, PlayStation has now proven that yes, Spider-Man will exist as a PlayStation-exclusive hero, not seeming to be the same edition of the insomniac game.
It arrives in early 2021 through an “in-game event” and is again only available on PlayStation. This does not appear to be a timed, but permanent, exclusivity. Needless to say, the reaction to this was … mediocre, as expected.
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The beta edition of the Avengers is about to begin soon, but some news worries some players. The online store Base.com has announced that Spider-Man would be an exclusive character in the PS4/PS5 edition of the game.
This may have been a mistake and yet Square Enix has already stated that there would be “surprises for PlayStation players”.
The most important thing here is that Spider-Man recently, an incredibly popular video game created through Insomniac and released exclusively for PlayStation. A spin-off, Miles Morales, takes position in the game’s universe and will contribute to the release of the PS5 this fall. In the past, Sony still owns the rights to Spider-Man and has reached an agreement with Disney to appear on MCU videos in the future, however, they have had notoriously strict control over the character.
So yes, it all turns out that it can easily get up spider-man, perhaps even to Spider-Man’s Insomniac edition, the Crystal Dynamics Avengers game, but only for PlayStation players.
I’m sure I hope that happens.
I’ve lived years of platform-exclusive content on a looter like Destiny, and I just split the player base and drive everyone crazy. Players hate it, the developer hates it, everybody hates it. You don’t feel like you’re giving PlayStation players anything else, it’s like you’re actively removing something from Xbox and now from PC players, and it’s a smart way to off two-thirds of your player base.
As soon as Bungie left Activision and began charting his own course, one of the first things they did got rid of the platform’s exclusive content, and even with a new partnership with Xbox, there’s nothing in Destiny 2 that’s Xbox-exclusive in the future Array timed or not (or an appearance beyond Light Game Pass). In general, we’ve noticed fewer and fewer of those platform-exclusives, apart from, for example, an older beta or other access (which Avengers also provides to Sony), because everyone hates the concept.
And before I say “well, it would be better if PlayStation gets Spider-Man that no one gets Spider-Man”, in fact it doesn’t have to be that way. Games like Marvel Vs. Capcom or Marvel Ultimate Alliance provide Spider-Man and is not an exclusive character in the PlayStation edition of those games.
In fact, I think it would be a little confusing if Insomniac Spider-Man also gave the impression on Xbox and PC. As if you’ve done such a smart task with a game and a character that intersects in versions of the game on your rival platform. This would be a bit fun and radiant, and would cause problems with Sony among the player base in general, rather than PC and Xbox players wasting access to Spider-Man. Hell, you can even use Miles Morales and have other versions of the game promoting the release of this spin-off for the release of the PS5.
Again, none of this is shown yet, however, that’s why I say all this now, because I hope that if that’s the plan you’re reconsidering, and let’s not end up in some other Destiny scenario that divides the base, especially if Avengers needs to be that multi-year game that can continue to do business like this if you end up doing this first. Spider-Man is for everyone, for the loose Peter Parker.
Update: Base said “the list is wrong,” but we still don’t have data on Spider-Man’s fate in Avengers one way or another.
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