The world of Marvel is pretty huge these days. Far from being ‘just’ a comic book company, Marvel now produce films, TV, videogames, books and other entertainment related to the IPs that originated in the pages of the comics. It seems Marvel Games are now going one step further and looking at bringing Marvel characters into virtual reality (VR)
During an interview with Gamespot, vice president of games and innovation at Marvel Jay Ong spoke about the role that videogames have in the overall Marvel strategy as well as the potential that VR has. Ong said: “There are so many different types of games, right? We’re looking at not just console and mobile, but VR, as well. The possibilities are practically without limits, so I don’t see any limitations. I would say, in some ways, games are more flexible than film or TV in terms of being able to tell amazingly different stories. Some games might be more story driven, such as Telltale, others more action driven like you mentioned earlier. There’s an opportunity there to do some pretty crazy things.”
When asked about VR technology, Ong was a little coy: “We did a deep dive in looking at the space towards the end of last year, and it offers some pretty incredible opportunities, in terms of delivering really cool experiences. We can’t say anything yet, but believe me, we’re not shying away from it.”
Speaking of what the future held for Marvel properties in VR, Ong said there were some announcement due soon: “Absolutely expect some announcements in VR, that’s something we’re really excited about. I think our fans are going to go crazy. The things we’re doing there are absolutely amazing. We see VR in the same way we see the other platforms in terms of if you want to do something, you need to do something truly amazing.” he continued, “We think if we do something there, it shouldn’t be just for the novelty of it. It should be something that defines the platform, that defines the experience. Certainly we’re looking to build when Spider-man comes out, it’ll be one of the best games on the platform, and when Avengers comes out, it’ll be one of the best games on those platforms. We think our efforts in VR will be the same thing.”
VRFocus will bring you further news on Marvel VR titles and experiences as soon as it becomes available.