Marvel’s Wolverine‘s has lost its creative director to one of Xbox’s most highly anticipated exclusives. Insomniac Games is one of the most respected studios in the gaming industry having made games like Ratchet & Clank, Marvel’s Spider-Man, and Resistance. The studio really made a name for itself with Marvel’s Spider-Man in 2018 when it made one of the most well-regarded superhero games of all-time and a generation defining exclusive for PlayStation. The studio has gone on to expand its ambitions with even more Marvel games in its future, including Marvel’s Wolverine. The game was announced in 2021 alongside Marvel’s Spider-Man 2, but outside of some big leaks, there hasn’t been any major official updates from Insomniac Games.
Wolverine is expected to still be a couple years out from release and a notable portion of the game’s story leaked online in addition to gameplay when Insomniac Games was hacked last year. Sadly, there’s more unfortunate news for Marvel’s Wolverine. Game File has reported that game’s creative director, Brian Horton, left Insomniac Games over the summer to pursue a different project: Xbox’s Perfect Dark. Sony confirmed the news to Game File and noted that Horton was replaced by Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart creative director Marcus Smith. Marvel’s Wolverine‘s game director Cameron Christian (different from creative director) has also stepped back from the project, but will remain at Insomniac Games. Game File noted that this was a result of changes regarding the creative direction of Marvel’s Wolverine.
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Horton previously helmed Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales for Insomniac Games and had made teases about the new game on social media over the years. An Xbox rep told Game File that Horton will be “bringing his wealth of experience to the upcoming reboot of the classic secret agent series.” The shooter had its first gameplay reveal over the summer and left fans really impressed, but it’s unclear how far into development it is. Nevertheless, it’s a big win for Xbox as it will likely only strengthen an already great looking game and give the console a successful big exclusive that fans have been eagerly awaiting.
Marvel’s Wolverine on the other hand feels like a rare struggle for Insomniac Games. The developer is known for churning out high quality games at a rapid pace without overworking its staff. Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 had some production issues as well, partially as a result of COVID disrupting the game’s development. Insomniac Games had to scale back a large portion of its plans for the game in order to hit its deadline which resulted in a more streamlined story and major gameplay elements such as destructible environments being cut from the final release.
It’s possible the hack last year led to Insomniac Games pivoting on the direction of Marvel’s Wolverine, but it’s not totally known. Either way, hopefully this doesn’t lead to a major delay to Marvel’s Wolverine. The game ramped up production last year around the release of Marvel’s Spider-Man 2, allowing developers to move over from the wall-crawler’s latest adventure to Wolverine’s first gaming outing in nearly 20 years. With that said, the game is deep into development and it’s unclear how much can really be changed at this point without undoing a ton of work.
PlayStation itself has also changed its strategy on how it reveals its games. It seems that the company only likes to really showcase its games when they’re closer to release, so it may be another year or two before we get another glimpse at Marvel’s Wolverine. However, there are rumors it could pop up sooner. Hopefully the game manages to find its way through a rougher part of development and turn out well on the other side.