It's no surprise that superhero media is one of the most popular and profitable forms of entertainment. The success of the Marvel Cinematic Universe is one of, if not the defining example of this success. This success has carried over into some of the video games that have carried the Marvel Comics brand, with games like Insomniac's Spider-Man and Marvel Ultimate Alliance 3 being critical and commercial hits. Back in 2021, there were plans to adapt the brand into a Marvel MMO video game, developed by Daybreak Games.
Daybreak Games is best known for DC Universe Online, a similar superhero MMO that is based on the DC Comics property. Alongside a number of other MMO projects, such as Planetside 2 and Everquest, the studio had a lot of notoriety. For the developer to now be working on an IP that is as big and successful as Marvel was seen as a good fit, with plenty of anticipation building behind the game. That was until many fans were blindsided by the recent announcement that the Marvel MMO project would be discontinued.
According to a recent investors' meeting with EG7, Daybreak Games' parent company, the Marvel MMO was canceled due to the development costs overtaking the forecasted sales success. With this announcement being made public, an artist who was formerly working on the project, Ramiro Galan, revealed a set of concept art and screens that were intended to be used for the title.
These images look like what the player would have seen when they first booted up the Marvel MMO, with character customization being at the forefront. These images showcase the ability to choose between factions like the Avengers, Fantastic Four, or X-Men to the superpowers that they could wield. A number of elements of the character's appearance could be changed, such as their gender, build, hair, head style, and so much more. The hero being created in this art shows an electricity-wielding superhero who joins the X-Men, showcasing the potential ways one could create their character.
According to Galan, there was an emphasis on vibrant colors while utilizing stylistic tones. This would give the game a bold comic-book contrast art style, with Galan noting that it was paying homage to Spider-Man: Into the Spiderverse. This might disappoint fans even more, considering an MMO using the same art style and presentation of that film might have been a promising game. Unfortunately, the amount of time and work needed in order to maintain such a game was not something that EG7 and Daybreak Games could profit from and has spread the intended investments to other smaller projects.