Bloomberg’s Jason Schreier spoke to sources familiar with the project, and it was alleged to still be in the pre-production phase since starting development about four years prior. It led to frustration among leadership, even though Black Panther passed a “gate,” EA’s term for “a development milestone where executives review a game’s progress and decide whether to continue production.”

Cliffhanger was founded in 2021, and building up the studio alongside the title proved challenging, and an “elongated” ideation period, combined with high salaries due to the studio’s base in Kirkland, Washington, didn’t help. The team reportedly began scaling up only recently (some layoffs were only there for a few weeks) to create a vertical slice.

EA isn’t completely done with Marvel titles, though, as development on Motive’s Iron Man continues. Stay tuned for more updates in the meantime.

“Our partnership with Marvel remains strong and our multi-title, long-term collaboration continues,” said Miele in a statement.

Another statement by a spokesperson for Marvel also reiterated the same idea, saying that both companies remain dedicated to their collaboration to make original games based on Marvel’s various IPs.

“The multi-title, long-term relationship between Marvel Games and EA, a creative collaboration focused on original storytelling with various, beloved Marvel characters, remains strong,” said Marvel’s spokesperson. “Development of our console and PC titles, beginning with Marvel’s Iron Man, is led by Motive Studios.”

The cancellation of Black Panther, long with the closure of the studio working on it – Cliffhanger Games – was discovered earlier this week. “These decisions are hard. They affect people we’ve worked with, learned from, and shared real moments with,” said Miele in an email to employees announcing the cancellation and studio closure. “We’re doing everything we can to support them – including finding opportunities within EA, where we’ve had success helping people land in new roles.”

The Black Panther game was not the only Marvel game officially confirmed by EA. The company has also been working on a game based on Iron Man. However, we haven’t yet heard much in the way of details about this Iron Man game, aside from the fact that it is being developed by EA Motive, and that, earlier this month, the studio was looking to hire a level designer.

“Since [Dead Space’s launch], our focus has switched to the Iron Man project, giving us the opportunity to work (and play!) with another extraordinary property,” wrote Klaus when announcing that the studio had hit a major milestone in the development of the Iron Man game. “We’re still early in pre-production and taking our time to make sure we set the best possible foundation for development. But already, we’re finding so many opportunities to explore story, design and gameplay with Iron Man, and it’s exciting to see the fantasy start coming alive.”

According to a 2022 report by Bloomberg, Iron Man was slated to be the first of the games that would be part of the multi-game deal signed between EA and Marvel. It is quite likely that the canceled Black Panther project would have been the second game, and an unknown third-title might still be in development. It is also possible that EA has decided to replace the Black Panther game’s spot in the deal with a new project internally. However, no announcements about this have been made.

For more on EA’s recent cancellation of Black Panther, check out the thoughts of some of its developers, as well as our own thoughts on what could have gone wrong with the project.

Still, there was some hope that Kevin Stephens, former studio head at Monolith, would thrive with other employees and gaming industry veterans at Cliffhanger Games, working on Black Panther. After all, it’s under Electronic Arts, and this is a Marvel property, albeit single-player focused (a bane for many gaming industry executives). Surely, it would be fine.

Unfortunately, that doesn’t seem to be the case. IGN recently reported that Black Panther has been cancelled and Cliffhanger shut down. An alleged email sent to staff by EA Entertainment president Laura Miele said that such decisions are “hard” and “affect people we’ve worked with, learned from, and shared real moments with.” She also said that the publisher will look to find new opportunities for the developers across the company, potentially in new roles.

But that’s sadly not all. EA is also reportedly laying off developers in its mobile and central teams. This marks the third series of layoffs by the publisher this year alone. It all began with the termination of an unknown number of developers from the Dragon Age team in January. Then Respawn Entertainment announced the cancellation of two “early-stage” incubation projects, including an alleged Titanfall extraction shooter.

Bloomberg’s Jason Schreier also reported 300 to 400 layoffs, with about 100 let go from Respawn. How many received new opportunities within EA? Your guess is as good as ours.

And while EA didn’t confirm the number this time either, Miele’s email attempted to explain why layoffs and cancellations are happening. It’s to apparently “sharpen” the publisher’s focus and “put our creative energy behind the most significant growth opportunities.”

This means that franchises like The Sims, Battlefield, Apex Legends and Skate will be the focus going forward. Since Miele isn’t involved with EA Sports, we don’t know how this affects the development of franchises like Madden, College Football, and, of course, EA Sports FC. However, the intention is seemingly clear – consolidate your base with the games that are providing or have the potential to provide the most consistent revenue. Read: Live service and microtransactions.

And for better or worse, that’s not out of the ordinary for Electronic Arts. It delivered a remake of Dead Space, which was incredible but didn’t get the sales it wanted. It launched Dragon Age: The Veilguard after years of development troubles, pivots, live-service machinations, layoffs, etc., and surprise, surprise, it also fell short of expectations. CEO Andrew Wilson would remark afterwards that its role-playing games needed “shared world features and deeper engagement” to “break out beyond the core audience.” Take that for what you will.

But then, you might ask, what about the other single-player titles in the works under EA? Miele apparently assured staff that Motive’s Iron Man, Respawn’s next Star Wars: Jedi title, and BioWare’s next Mass Effect are continuing development. Despite their supposed lack of microtransactions, Star Wars: Jedi and Mass Effect have proven financial track records.

Iron Man is the only real mystery, but perhaps the goal is to tie it into an upcoming Avengers movie or something. Which is odd because the first two Black Panther movies were financially successful, and the character is still relevant in the MCU. The real odd one out is Star Wars Zero Company – a single-player turn-based tactics title that’s very much in the vein of XCOM.

EA did make a deal with Marvel to create three games based on its properties. However, it isn’t confirmed which three games fall under it. Was Black Panther viewed as inconsequential because it doesn’t? We don’t know at this point and probably never will. However, EA provided a statement from Miele to IGN, noting, “Our partnership with Marvel remains strong, and our multi-title, long-term collaboration continues.”

The real question that one has to ask is: Why now, with all the layoffs and project cancellations? You could argue that the company weathered the storm at a time when Sony, Microsoft, and other publishers (sans Nintendo) shuttered numerous studios. Even when Dead Space remake didn’t meet their expectations enough to cancel a rumored sequel (which apparently wasn’t a straight remake of Dead Space 2. The less you know, the better), Motive continued with Iron Man.

The answer may be as straightforward as it is silly: EA Sports FC 25.

Last January, EA revealed a significant revision to its full fiscal year bookings, from $7.5 to $7.8 billion to $7 to $7.15 billion. Granted, Dragon Age: The Veilguard contributed to this due to missing player projections by 50 percent. However, the publisher admitted that it was mostly due to the underwhelming performance of EA Sports FC 25. Company shares fell by 15 percent, wiping out $6 billion in market value.

Anyone who played FC 25 will know that its launch condition wasn’t the best. Even after major updates, it’s still at an overall “Mixed” rating on Steam, with only 49 percent of its nearly 68,000 reviews giving it the thumbs-up. As analyst firm MoffettNathanson said at the time, Ultimate Team is a “near Swiss clock of interactive media bookings growth” for EA and if it’s not raking in microtransaction revenue, there’s trouble. The publisher even outright confirmed a decrease in live service bookings by a “mid-single-digit percentage” when it previously projected an increase.

Keep in mind that it also launched one of 2024’s best-selling titles in the US with College Football 25. EA Sports FC 25’s performance was so below the company’s expectations that it couldn’t help offset the drop. Shortly thereafter, BioWare underwent a restructuring to focus entirely on the next Mass Effect, and members of the Dragon Age had their positions terminated. And so on with the other cancellations.

Electronic Arts hasn’t confirmed if this is all the case and whether its underwhelming financial performance spurred all these changes. However, from a player’s perspective, cancelling a title from the minds behind Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor and Shadow of War, whose “Open Story” system sounds like an excellent substitute for the Nemesis system, is just heart-breaking.

Maybe it wasn’t justifying the development costs. Maybe problems arose that weren’t worth spending time and money to resolve. Maybe it follows Wilson’s statement about shifting away from developing “future licensed IP that we do not believe will be successful in our changing industry.” Again, we don’t know, but considering this is the same publisher that reportedly cancelled a Mandalorian title from Respawn, fathoming its decision-making process beyond “How do we meet our yearly forecasts?” and “How do we keep shareholders happy?” is a riddle unto itself.

Regardless, with Monolith Productions also gone, it’s another gut punch for fans who hoped that maybe Black Panther could be the open-world superhero game that Wonder Woman couldn’t. Just the thought that Monolith’s talent still had a place where they were doing supposedly great things was enough.

The wheel will keep turning for Electronic Arts as it focuses on its next slate of yearly sports offerings and titles that will generate recurring revenue. However, everyone working under the company – be it on live service, sports, or single-player-focused titles – has an uphill battle to fight. Because if the games industry has proven anything this year and the last, it’s that finding a studio to call home is almost impossible.

Note: The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of, and should not be attributed to, GamingBolt as an organization.

Twitter user @notfunEman posted some concept art which showcased numerous in-game locations, including Wakanda. They also allege that Azari, T’Challa’s son, was one of the multiple playable characters based on a scene provided in the survey (which was “VERY similar” to the film’s ritual combat).

Interestingly, a Skrull ship would seemingly appear in the middle and abduct T’Challa. When asked for proof, the user provided a screenshot outlining the at-home playtest (though they clarified that it isn’t their email “legally speaking”).

Take everything with a grain of salt, but based on the impressions of developers who worked on the project, it would have been something unique. As it stands, EA’s other Marvel-licensed project, Iron Man, is still in the works at Motive. Stay tuned for more updates in the meantime.

While he didn’t elaborate much about it, he responded to another post bemoaning the cancellation of Black Panther with a post simply saying that, “Morale has been at an all-time low.” His post continued, “I can say that much.”

Wren’s statement likely comes in light of EA having canceled quite a few in-development projects at Respawn Entertainment. Several of these titles were referred to as “incubation projects”, which would likely indicate that these games were still very early in their development cycles before they were ultimately canceled.

Back in April, EA had announced that it was laying off 300 employees from across its various divisions, including employees from Respawn. The studio confirmed that two of its incubation projnects had been canceled – one of which was rumoured to be a multiplayer extraction shooter set in the Titanfall universe, and the other simply being codenamed R7. Around a 100 employees that were affected by the lay-offs were reportedly part of the Respawn Entertainment staff.

“We are treating our people with care and respect throughout this process, working to minimize impacts by helping affected employees explore new opportunities within the company when possible and providing support during the transition,” said EA in a statement announcing its lay-offs.

Another multiplayer shooter incubation project was reportedly cancelled back in March, according to a former employee. “The unannounced incubation project I was a part of for the past year was canceled this week, so I am joining the group of extremely talented and kind people in the games industry searching for a new role,” wrote the employee in a LinkedIn post that has since been deleted.

Reports of EA canceling Black Panther and shuttering Cliffhanger Games came about earlier today. EA Entertainment president Laura Miele sent out an email to members of the company’s staff announcing the decisions, which also involved lay-offs.

“These decisions are hard. They affect people we’ve worked with, learned from, and shared real moments with,” wrote Miele. “We’re doing everything we can to support them – including finding opportunities within EA, where we’ve had success helping people land in new roles.”

In light of this, developers that had worked on the Black Panther games took to social media to talk about their time working on the title, while also talking about how sad it was that more people wouldn’t get to experience what was turning out to be an “ambitious and special” game.

“I was a part of this incredible crew,” wrote concept artist Karla Ortiz in a post on social media. “We were working on such an amazing and stunning game. Detailed, rich, beautiful. It breaks my heart the world won’t see it. It also breaks my heart to say goodbye to the team. What an honor to work with you all. What a sad day.”

Morale has been at an all-time low. I can say that much.

— Patrick Wren (@witdarkstar.bsky.social) 2025-05-28T18:47:18.116Z

“I was a part of this incredible crew,” wrote Ortiz in a post on BlueSky. “We were working on such an amazing and stunning game. Detailed, rich, beautiful. It breaks my heart the world won’t see it. It also breaks my heart to say goodbye to the team. What an honor to work with you all. What a sad day.”

Game designer Sophie Mallinson also wrote about having worked on the title, referring to the development team – which were laid off as part of the studio closure – as a dream team. Mallinson described it as an action RPG, and revealed that it was being being worked on by the creators of the Nemesis system from Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor, and its sequel, Middle-earth: Shadow of War.

“This is a dream team and you should snap up anyone who was working on this project,” wrote Mallinson. “So sad that we might not ever get to see a Black Panther ARPG developed by the creators of the Nemesis System!!”

Freddie Lee – the senior environment architect – thanked the team he had worked with before the game’s cancellation. In his BlueSky post, Lee wrote about being inspired by the works of Ortiz.

“Welp this happened today,” wrote Lee. “It has to be said that during my short time there, I’ve had the honor and pleasure to work with people like Karla who’s art inspired myself and the team, and also instilling confidence and growth into my professional artwork. This team was, and is GOAT.”

Former systems design director at Respawn Entertainment, Rayme Vinson, revealed in his own post that he had gotten to see the Black Panther title in action. Vinson wrote about getting to see the title and interact with the development team in light of the cancellation of a shooter based on the Star Wars franchise, describing the Black Panther game as “ambitious and special.”

“When they shut down the Star Wars FPS, we got to see this game up close and talk to their dev team, because they could take on some of our folks,” wrote Vinson. “What they were building was ambitious and special and I was legitimately excited to play it someday, even if they’d only done 1/4 of what they planned.”

EA revealed that it was cancelling the Black Panther game and shutting down Cliffhanger Games through an email that was spotted earlier today. “These decisions are hard,” wrote EA Entertainment president Laura Miele in the email. “They affect people we’ve worked with, learned from, and shared real moments with. We’re doing everything we can to support them – including finding opportunities within EA, where we’ve had success helping people land in new roles.”

https://bsky.app/profile/kortizart.bsky.social/post/3lqawcpmp222v

https://bsky.app/profile/sophmallinson.bsky.social/post/3lqavusellk2g

https://bsky.app/profile/stringerseven.bsky.social/post/3lqbar2qlgk2m

When they shut down the Star Wars FPS, we got to see this game up close and talk to their dev team, because they could take on some of our folks. What they were building was ambitious and special and I was legitimately excited to play it someday, even if they'd only done 1/4 of what they planned.

— Rayme (@rayme.bsky.social) 2025-05-28T19:14:21.962Z

She also addressed that other project cancellations and layoffs were to “sharpen our focus and put our creative energy behind the most significant growth opportunities.”

“These decisions are hard. They affect people we’ve worked with, learned from, and shared real moments with. We’re doing everything we can to support them – including finding opportunities within EA, where we’ve had success helping people land in new roles.”

The next set of layoffs will impact both mobile and central development teams, though it’s unknown how many were affected. IGN learned that the number is less than the 300 recent layoffs from Respawn Entertainment and other EA studios. Around this time, EA had also reportedly cancelled an unannounced Titanfall extraction shooter.

As for Black Panther, it was revealed through job listings to be an open-world title with a new system called “Open Story,” which would incorporate dialogue and conversations into various “interconnected systems” for its narrative. There was no gameplay or announcement trailer released.

Kevin Stephens, former studio head of Monolith Productions, led Cliffhanger Games. The Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor and Shadow of War studio also shut down earlier this year with its next game, Wonder Woman, cancelled.

As such, here, we’re going to take a look at every upcoming game based on a Marvel property that has been officially confirmed to be in development so far and talk about everything we know about them at this point in time.

MARVEL’S WOLVERINE

With three excellent Spider-Man games now under its belt, Insomniac Games has comfortably carved out an unforgettable place for itself in Marvel history, and the next challenge that the studio is looking to take on is none other than Wolverine himself. Marvel’s Wolverine has been in development for a while now, and even though official details on the game are scant at best, purely based on how well Insomniac has done with the Spider-Man license, it’s easy to get excited about what it’ll do with Wolverine.

Of course, though official details on the game aren’t readily available, there has been plenty of information that has emerged through other channels. Even if we don’t dive into the data breach that Insomniac suffered in December, prior reports over the last couple of years had shed light on some interesting details about the game, alleging that it will be a semi-open world experience set in the fictional Marvel city of Madripoor, while adopting a no-holds-barred approach to the grittiness and violence that one would normally associate with Wolverine and his adamantium claws.

How accurate those details will end up being remains to be seen, and for now, there’s no word on when the game will be out- though reports have claimed that it’s targeting a 2026 launch. Does that mean we might get to a new look at it sometime this year? Or would Insomniac prefer to hold off for a little longer and kick off the game’s marketing cycle in earnest sometime in 2025?

MARVEL’S BLADE

This one came out of nowhere. Arkane Studios may have had a 2023 to forget, thanks to the disaster that was Redfall, but its Lyon team – responsible for the likes of Dishonored 2 and Deathloop – ended the year on a strong note, with the surprising announcement that it was developing a Blade game. Now, it’s fair to say that the vampire-hunting vampire doesn’t have the universal mainstream appeal of someone like a Spider-Man or an Iron Man (or not yet, anyway), but as the property’s many dedicated fans would tell you, the prospect of a Blade game that prescribes to the design philosophies and sense of style one usually associates with Arkane sounds almost like an unlikely yet perfect fit- much like Spider-Man and Insomniac when that pairing was first announced.

So what do we know about Marvel’s Blade so far? It’s going to be a single player action-adventure game that is going to integrate many of the immersive sim elements Arkane has become renowned for. Set in the city of Paris, it’s been described as a mature and gritty experience – appropriately enough for Blade – and, interestingly enough, will be Arkane’s first third-person game. As for when it’ll be out? There isn’t much clarity there. At the time of the game’s announcement, Bethesda said the game had “just begun development”, though the LinkedIn profile of campaign director Dana Nightingale would suggest that it’s been in the works since 2022. Either way, it’s quite a ways off yet, with journalist Jeff Grubb having claimed that, as things stand right now, the game is targeting a 2027 launch at the very earliest.

SKYDANCE NEW MEDIA’S CAPTAIN AMERICA AND BLACK PANTHER GAME

Probably one of the more unique games in this entire list, given the fact that it’s starring not one, but two renowned Marvel heroes. In 2021, it was announced that Skydance New Media – led by Uncharted creator Amy Hennig – was working on a new Marvel game, and in 2022, it was announced that the game would star both Captain America and Black Panther. Set during World War 2, along with the two heroes, the game will also star two non-superpowered humans, and feature all four as its main playable heroes. The premise in and of itself is a fascinating one, and when you add to that the fact that the game is being billed as a big, cinematic, story-driven blockbuster, it becomes even more enticing.

The last time we heard anything about this game was over a year ago at this point, and there hasn’t really been any new information on it in the time that’s passed since then. With no gameplay footage having been revealed so far and not even an official title having been confirmed, our hope is that we’ll be seeing more of this game at some point in the not-too-distant.

CLIFFHANGER GAMES’ BLACK PANTHER GAME

Skydance’s game isn’t the only one that will be representing Black Panther. Leaks had claimed for a while that EA was working on a single player, open world Black Panther game set in Wakanda, and in July last year, that was confirmed. The game is being developed by Cliffhanger Games, a new Electronic Arts studio established in Seattle and let by Kevin Stephens, who was previously the studio head at Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor and Shadow of War developer Monolith Productions.

Up to this point, we’ve seen nothing of the Black Panther game, but the few details that have been revealed sound promising. It’s going to be set in an open world Wakanda, which Cliffhanger Games is describing as an “expansive and reactive” setting. Interestingly, it will also feature what’s been dubbed the Open Story system, which is promising “dynamic narrative and branching dialogue” to allow players to shape the story how they see fit. Exactly how that differs from regular choice and consequence mechanics remains to be seen- but the idea of a Black Panther game with player choice and a branching story is certainly an intriguing one.

Black Panther is being built on Unreal Engine 5, and upon its announcement last year, was said to be in early development. In all likelihood, that means it’ll be at least a couple of years before we start hearing more about it.

MOTIVE STUDIO’S IRON MAN GAME

Before Black Panther, the first Marvel game that EA announced was Iron Man, being developed by Motive Studio, the team behind 2023’s incredible remake of Dead Space. And what exactly do we know about it? Well, not much. We know it’s going to be a single player, third-person, action-adventure title, but that’s pretty much it as far as concrete details are concerned. Beyond that, job ads have suggested that it might be an open world game, and that, unlike Motive’s past projects – all of which were built on EA’s internal Frostbite engine – it’s being made on Unreal Engine 5.

There isn’t much clarity on when the game is going to launch either. When it was announced in September 2022, it was said to be in pre-production, and a little over a year later, in October last year, Motive Studio GM Patrick Klaus revealed that the game was still in early pre-production. What does that mean for how far away the game is from releasing? Well, it’s probably going to be a while. But will we be seeing at least a debut trailer at some point in the next year or so? That seems perhaps a little likelier.

EA’S THIRD MARVEL GAME

When Motive Studio’s Iron Man game was confirmed to be in development in 2022, EA revealed that it was set to be a part of a multi-game partnership that the company had entered into with Marvel, with a subsequent Bloomberg report claiming that the deal was going to cover three games. Since then, the second game has been confirmed as Cliffhanger Games’ Black Panther title- so what could the third game be? Given the complete lack of information (official or otherwise) on this front, all we can do for now is speculate, but based on how EA is handling Black Panther and Iron Man, it seems safe to assume that the third title will be another single player action-adventure experience. With those two still being in the early stages of production though, it’s probably going to be quite a while before we start hearing anything even close to concrete about the third game.

At least two of them are confirmed to be safe. In a statement to GamesIndustry, an Electronic Arts representative has confirmed that its two upcoming Marvel titles based on Iron Man and Black Panther are still in development.

Iron Man is in development at Motive Studio, the team behind 2023’s Dead Space remake, as a single player action-adventure game. Being built on Unreal Engine 5, it is currently still in pre-production, and job listings have suggested it could have an open world setting.

Black Panther, meanwhile, is being worked on by the newly-established Cliffhanger Games, and will be an open world, single player, action-adventure title, purportedly touting expansive choice-and-consequence mechanics that will allow players to shape their own stories.

Reports had previously indicated that EA’s partnership with Marvel would also cover a third game, though its status remains unknown.

Not all upcoming EA titles based on licensed IP have survived the culling, however. Respawn Entertainment’s single player Star Wars FPS has been cancelled.

Meanwhile, Battlefield studio Ridgeline Games has been shut down.

Interestingly, as per known comic book insider CanWeGetSomeToast, that inconsistency is something Marvel is “painfully aware” of. In a recent tweet, the insider claimed that there have been “whispers of an internal shift for Marvel to focus on games”, and that EA’s upcoming duo of single player action-adventure titles based on Black Panther (developed by Cliffhanger Games) and Iron Man (developed by Motive Studio) are supposed to be “the start of a push for something big.”

Of course, Marvel has a few other single player action-adventure titles confirmed to be in development as well. Skydance New Media, which is led by Uncharted creator Amy Hennig, is working on a game starring Black Panther and Captain America, while Insomniac is currently developing Marvel’s Wolverine, which, according to rumours, is targeting a Fall 2024 launch.

Meanwhile, later this month, on October 20, Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 will launch for PS5.

Marvel is PAINFULLY aware of how their video games division hasn’t been reaching its potential overall.

There have been whispers of an internal shift for Marvel to focus on games. The new EA Black Panther and Iron Man games will be the start of a push for something BIG. https://t.co/mFp2DQVYFH pic.twitter.com/AwSgGXMGTz

— CanWeGetSomeToast (@CanWeGetToast) September 30, 2023