In a surprising announcement that very few people saw coming, Marvel Entertainment announced a multi-year, multi-game partnership with Square Enix. The new agreement will allow the excellent Japanese developer and publisher to produce original games based on Marvel’s extensive catalogue of superheroes. According to both Marvel and Square Enix, the first new game to come from this new relationship will be based on The Avengers. 

The news of Marvel and Square Enix pairing up is very exciting, especially for fans of both Marvel’s comics and cinematic universe. It also appears as if Marvel is not pulling any punches, as the untitled Avengers based game is being co-crafted by Crystal Dynamics, the developers behind the award winning reboots of Tomb Raider, and Eidos-Montréal, the team behind the critically acclaimed Deus-Ex series. That alone is enough to whet geeky appetites everywhere – goodness knows I had a geekasm upon hearing this news.

According to both Marvel and Square Enix, The Avengers project is being designed for “gamers worldwide and will be packed with all the characters, environments, and iconic moments that have thrilled longtime fans of the franchise”. With this in mind, the new game will feature a completely original story and it will, rather interestingly, “introduce a universe gamers can play in for years to come”. Details for the new game are still sparse, but Marvel and Square Enix have said that additional information about The Avengers project, and other games, will be revealed in 2018.

Jay Ong, Senior Vice President of Games & Innovation for Marvel Entertainment, has said that “By partnering with Crystal Dynamics and Eidos-Montréal, we are now working with two of the industry’s most talented and respected game development studios to bring Marvel stories to life in ways our fans have never experienced.“ His sentiments were echoed by Phil Rogers, CEO of Square Enix Americas and Europe, who said that “It’s exciting to bring together Square Enix’s award-winning development studios with Marvel’s extraordinary storytellers to establish a new entertainment powerhouse. This collaboration of passion and talent will craft epic, imaginative experiences allowing gamers to live out their Super Hero dreams like never before”. It certainly sounds incredibly promising.

In addition to announcing this new partnership, the studios also released an ominous teaser trailer – one that does nothing more than make us even more anxious and excited for what is to come.

[Sources: YouTube]

Owner, founder and editor-in-chief at Vamers, Hans has a vested interest in geek culture and the interactive entertainment industry. With a Masters degree in Communications and Ludology, he is well read and versed in matters relating to video games and communication media, among many other topics of interest.