Having the ability to just take off and fly through a sprawling space is all sorts of liberating, and it’d have materialised into reality…if not for Marvel and Disney pulling the plug on an open-world Iron Man game back in 2012.
In an interview with MinnMax, Avalanche Studios, the team behind the Just Cause series, revealed that the title was actually “in development for a couple of years” before it got cancelled. The main premise, co-founder Christofer Sundberg shared, would have involved players being able to “take off and just fly anywhere,” with a focus on melee combat similar to the popular Batman Arkham games. Enemies could even be punched through Iron Man’s repulsor gloves, which
There were, however, issues with how fast Disney wanted the game made. Sundberg explained that it “would’ve broken the studio completely” if they hired all the necessary manpower to work on the project within the short window. “We would have had to hire 70-80 people to the team that I would have had a responsibility to find a new project for,” he said. It was a tough pill to swallow, and he was disappointed that nearly two years of hard work had “went down the toilet.”
It’s indeed a shame that the game didn’t manage to see the light of day, especially with how chaotic and action-packed it could have been. The world of Just Cause is known to be huge, brimming with lots of explosions, chaotic romps, death-defying stunts, and unrestrained exploration — all of which could have paved the way to a grander stage akin to Marvel’s Spider-Man. Instead, fans got two poorly-received game adaptations of Iron Man 1 and 2.
Having said that, there’s no real need to rush out Marvel-themed video games anytime soon. Apart from Fireaxis’ Midnight Suns, there are also Insomniac’s Spider-Man 2 and Marvel’s Wolverine in the works, along with a host of other rumoured projects.
Si Jia is a casual geek at heart – or as casual as someone with Sephiroth’s theme on her Spotify playlist can get. A fan of movies, games, and Japanese culture, Si Jia’s greatest weakness is the Steam Summer Sale. Or any Steam sale, really.
Natalie
Trinity Sun
