David Jaffe, the director on the Twisted Metal series along with the original God of War has revealed that his studio were working on an Iron Man virtual reality (VR) prototype for PlayStation VR.
The news comes from David Jaffe himself via a post on his Twitter account and follows the closure of his studio, The Bartlet Jones Supernatural Detective Agency following the less than ideal performance of their debut title Drawn to Death.
The Iron Man prototype, though only shown in one concept image, would allow a user to fly about as Iron Man and make use of his suits powers. Players would of been able to talk directly to Tony Stark’s JARVIS system as well, to offer additional controls of the suit and provide more gameplay features. A second-screen experience is also included in the pitch called “Marvel Teamup” in which a second player could control a different character, such as War Machine, Captain America, or a SHIELD agent and fight alongside Iron Man.
Though lacking in any further details or demonstrations, the concept sounds to be a fairly reasonable and achievable one. Interestingly, is the detail that Marvel were unaware of the project altogether. In his tweet, David Jaffe mentioned that the prototype was unfunded and being made without Marvel’s knowledge, with the goal being to pitch it to them and hope they liked it in a bid to secure funding.
Given that Marvel and Disney revealed Marvel Powers United VR last year, the two companies are clearly interested in creating more dynamic VR content. Marvel Powers United VR lets players jump into the shoes of a number of heroes from the Marvel universe including Captain Marvel, Thor, Rocket Raccoon and become heroes together in immersive co-op encounters.
It is a shame that David Jaffe and the team at The Bartlet Jones Supernatural Detective Agency were not able to bring their Iron Man prototype forward into active development. There is also a small chance that Marvel may still show some interest in the idea now that it has been made public.
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