Marvel Games has many upcoming games including Insomniac’s Spider-Man, TellTale’s Guardians of the Galaxy, and the recently announced multi-game Avengers Project from Square Enix. While no specifics from those games were discussed, today during a keynote at the D.I.C.E. Summit, Marvel Games’ creative director Bill Rosemann said developers should focus on inclusivity and diversity when creating their games.
Rosemann’s talk echoes the sentiments of Blizzard’s Jeff Kaplan, the game director of Overwatch, who said yesterday during his talk at D.I.C.E. that his company’s approach to diversity when developing Overwatch led to a game that could be enjoyed by anyone. Marvel’s Rosemann said that like Marvel superheroes, developers have a similar responsibility:
"We can create worlds that affect others. When you go back to your studios and your teams and it's time to make decisions about the worlds you build, be like Spider-Man and realize the power we have and use it wisely. Be like Captain America and do the right thing."
In an interview with Polygon, Rosemann said that the stories of Marvel’s superheroes are perfect for pulling in people from all walks of life. He said that Marvel’s characters are “outsiders and misfits […] who struggle with fitting in, and whose biggest fights are internal.”
He spoke about Marvel characters like Spider-Man, who was the first major teen superhero when he debuted in 1962; or his more contemporary counterpart, Miles Morales, who unlike Peter Parker, is an African-American. Rosemann said he has gotten a lot of hate mail over the Miles Morales character, but even more feedback from people thanking him for the character who helped them feel more included. Another touching story during his keynote was that of thank you note he received from a young girl who wears a hearing aid. She admires Marvel characters Blue Ear and Sapheara who are both hearing-impaired.
While no concrete details were given about the games Marvel Games’ has in the works with the aforementioned studios, Rosemann (who had a hand in bringing back the Guardians of the Galaxy to its mainstream success) said Telltale’s Guardians game will focus on the characters and their desires. He also said game developers should be like the Guardians of the Galaxy:
"We should look past our differences and realize what unites us. We should run towards the explosions, not run away from them. We should be people who make use of our own special abilities."
Telltale's Guardians of the Galaxy is expected to launch in April 2017, according to a recent leak.