Amid the launch woes of Marvel's Avengers and its subsequent delayed release of post-launch content, one question has remained a focus of the game's PlayStation community: where's Spider-Man? The live service third-person action game launched on PlayStation platforms with the promise of an exclusive Marvel's Avengers DLC character in Spider-Man. Initially planned to be released in early 2021, Crystal Dynamics could only say it was delayed and continued to be worked on. Now the studio has an update regarding when Spider-Man is set to arrive in Marvel's Avengers.
Speaking with Screen Rant, Marvel's Avengers senior game designer Scott Walters revealed Crystal Dynamics' current plan for Spider-Man. If everything remains on schedule, Spider-Man will be delivered to PlayStation players in 2021. There's no specific release date available at the moment, but 2021 is currently the set schedule for the DLC character's release. However, Walters framed the response with a lot of caveats, starting the statement with, "In terms of what we can say now," and later adding that the DLC's 2021 release, "is still on track." In other words, things can change.
It's always possible that the Spider-Man DLC could arrive sooner than expected, too. Walters' description seems framed for a possible delay to come, but it could just be intentionally vague so as to avoid spoiling an announcement. Perhaps coincidental, but there are rumors of a PlayStation State of Play event next week, which would be the perfect opportunity to reveal Crystal Dynamics' plans for Spider-Man.
Exactly how Crystal Dynamics will deal with Spider-Man's PlayStation exclusivity isn't clear, either. When Crystal Dynamics' original plan was effectively to flood Marvel's Avengers with routine content updates, a platform-exclusive character even as popular as Spider-Man wasn't too frustrating for other platforms. Now that they're rare, however, a content update just for PlayStation while PC and Xbox wonder what's next for them seems like another Marvel's Avengers controversy waiting to crop up.
Crystal Dynamics does have other content plans for Marvel's Avengers, of course. Operation: Black Panther - War for Wakanda is tentatively scheduled to launch on August 17, just next week. War for Wakanda will add Black Panther as a playable character to the game. It'll be the first major content update for Marvel's Avengers since Clint Barton's addition in Operation: Hawkeye - Future Imperfect, which was dropped in March. That makes for a five-month gap between Operation DLC releases.
The release of Marvel's Avengers has been tumultuous, to say the least. That said, Marvel's Avengers has retained a modest community of dedicated players and Crystal Dynamics has continued to roll out expansions, albeit slowly. The team could easily have pulled the plug immediately after launch. At the very least, Spider-Man will be delivered as promised.
Marvel's Avengers is available now on PC, PS4, PS5, Stadia, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.
Source: Screen Rant