14 DAY TRIAL // Comic book company Marvel, one of the two biggest publishers in the world, has announced that it is looking for a new partner in the video game world to develop and launch a title based on The Avengeres, set to be launched at the same time as the movie with the same name.
Marvel, which is now party of Disney, made the announcement in the wake of the closure of two THQ studios in Australia, which were working on The Avengers.
In an official statement that was offered to GameSpot Marvel has confirmed that, at the moment, “The rights for a video game based on Marvel’s Avengers IP have reverted back to Marvel.”
The company has added that it is working with other partners to see who might take on development duties but that the process was in its “early stages”.
The statement seems to confirm that THQ will no longer be involved.
It would make sense for Marvel to partner with one of the biggest publishers in the industry, like Electronic Arts, Activision Blizzard or Ubisoft, in order to get access to significant development resources and to marketing and distribution departments that can make the video game a success.
The movie version of The Avengeres is one of the biggest film events of 2012, with Marvel slowly building up to it through the release of movies like Thor, Iron Man and Captain America.
Each of them also received video game companions but they have usually delivered quick and low quality experiences that have not matched the caliber of the movies.
The Avengers video game should probably focus heavily on offering cooperative play and on careful modeling of the powers used by the characters included.
It would be interesting to see what a developer like Epic Games, who has just launched Gears of War 3, or Relic, of Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine fame, might do with a Marvel license.