Marvel makes new quality pledge for video games output

Fewer games that are better and are only released when they’re ready – that’s the message coming from Marvel.

Titles from recent partners such as Activision and Sega on consoles, as well as digital releases from Gameloft and Gazillion, have typically not fared well with critics. But with Marvel increasingly bringing operations in-house, that’s all going to change.

"Marvel’s overall success in film and TV and other lines of business, means that Marvel is now attracting better partners in the gaming space," Marvel’s VP of production for games TQ Jefferson told Polygon.

"We’re talking to people now who have strong vision and great teams that can actually execute, and we’re not as concerned with hitting a date [that’s tied to a movie] and wanting to hold out for quality and have things go out when we’re ready.

"We are looking at smarter, more interconnected experiences, more interconnected narrative. We are evolving how we’re approaching our games and how we’re building out our [games] universe. What we’re also doing now is we’re being much more selective and measured in how we approach partnerships. I think in the heyday of the movie licensed game, it was just, ‘Let’s churn out something, let’s do the the smash and grab, get the money and get out’ and most of those games sucked, to be perfectly blunt.

"We have to respond by introducing higher quality product. We’re pushing more quality now than we ever have in the past and if that means fewer games, that means fewer games. As long as we’re hitting a high quality bar and holding ourselves to a higher standard."