The fact that Spider-Man in Marvel’s Avengers will be exclusive to PS4 and PS5 when he is added to the game in 2021 has kicked up something of a controversy, which is understandable enough. As possibly the most popular superhero character in the world, it’s understandable that many are upset that he’s being locked behind exclusivity deals in a major AAA Avengers game.
That, of course, will have other implications as well. For instance, given his nature as a post-launch character and the fact that he won’t be available in the game’s non-PlayStation versions, does that mean he won’t be an integral part of the game’s larger story and will instead have a much more self-contained arc? That appears to be the case.
Speaking with Wccftech, the game’s developers confirmed that his arc in the game will be “in addition to” the larger story and main narrative, and that they won’t be swapping him out with any other character outside of PlayStation, or anything to that effect.
“Spider-Man is in addition to the arc and progression of the main story as well. There was no swapping or anything else in that line,” said combat director Vince Napoli. “We’ve got our plan, we’ve got our heroes that are coming out and the stories and the challenges and the gameplay escalation that we’ve planned out. That’s all continuing as planned. And then just on top of all that stuff, we’ve also got Spider-Man now and you know, he’s weaving into that, that is the key. There is no swapping or changing anything to kind of accommodate that. He’s got to fit within the massive plan and all of that stuff we’ve already got. It’s like, Sony went ‘Hey, can you add this on top of it, as a sort of a cherry on top of that?’ But he doesn’t affect or change that in any way. That plan is still moving forward as originally planned and conceived with all the original expansion stuff in mind.”
When asked if that means Spider-Man’s story will be a self-contained arc, creative director Shaun Escayg said, “Absolutely, yeah.”
It is certainly disappointing that Spider-Man being exclusive to the game’s PlayStation versions means he will essentially have to play a bit-part role instead of having a larger impact on the narrative, especially given how important he is as a character- but given the complications a larger role for him might lead to in terms of possibly crucial content down the road also having to be exclusive to PS4 and PS5, it makes sense that that is the case.
While details on Spider-Man’s story in the game won’t be arriving for some time, Crystal Dynamics have said that new characters’ stories will focus on them meeting with the Avengers for the first time.
Marvel’s Avengers is out on September 4 for PS4, Xbox One, PC, and Stadia, and will be coming to PS5 and Xbox Series X later in the year. The game recently entered closed beta on PS4, and dataminers have already discovered files referencing characters that might possibly be added to the game down the line. Read more on that through here.
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