Many consider Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy to be one of the best surprise releases from the last year, and for good reason. After the sour taste that Crystal Dynamics’ Marvel’s Avengers left, playing as a ragtag group of Marvel heroes in a well-made single player narrative-driven experience was something everyone enjoyed. But why did Eidos Montreal choose the group of heroes over some other, more popular ones? Well, it seems that had very specific reasons.
Speaking with Insomniac Games’ Ted Price in the recent Game Makers’ Notebook Podcast (via MP1st), the senior creative director of the game Jean-François Dugas revealed the reason why they decided on working on a Guardians of the Galaxy game over other Marvel properties. Dugas says that after the head of the studio approached them with the chance to collaborate with Marvel for a game, they realized that Guardians of the Galaxy was the best choice, as they were a team of underdogs, fitting the studio’s personality in some way or the other.
“He asked us with the franchises within Marvel, what we would love the best? And he already had this idea, but our idea was similar,” Dugas said. “We felt that Guardians of the Galaxy was a team of underdogs that was fitting our personality, fitting our studio in some ways as well, because I guess whenever we were working on Dues Ex, it was like, ‘nah, there’s no chance they were going to make a good Deus Ex.’ And now Guardians- ‘there’s no chance that Guardians will be good.’”
It is safe to say that the decision was a correct one, as Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy managed to become one of the better games of 2021. Hopefully, Eidos Montreal has more in store for the future.