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Motive Studios' upcoming Iron Man game reportedly tells an original story that builds upon established elements of the Marvel Universe.
As detailed in an article from GamesIndustry.biz, this announcement fueled speculation that this game could mark the beginning of a Marvel Interactive Universe that would tie Iron Man's story with that of every other Marvel game. However, Bill Rosemann, the VP and creative director of Marvel Games, explained that this is not the case and that all future Marvel games, including Iron Man, will be standalone and independent of one another, tied together only by certain Marvel 'building blocks.'
"Every decision [the Motive team] are making about their Marvel Universe, their Tony Stark, their Iron Man...they're building it from the ground-up," Rosemann explained. "But it is being built with what we call Marvel 'building blocks.' When you play the game, it may not be the Iron Man story that you've experienced before, but there will be many similar things. What would you expect in a Marvel story? There are things, there are institutions, certain companies, groups...I don't want to say what is and isn't in this game, but for example there is S.H.I.E.L.D., Hydra, there's the Daily Bugle, there's these different countries that exist. These are the building blocks that make the Marvel Universe."
No Marvel Gaming Multiverse
Although Marvel achieved financial success with the multiverse in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Rosemann explained that Marvel Games' ambition is to 'give everyone the freedom to tell their own story,' referring to not only Motive Studios but every developer that works to create Marvel games in the future. With that in mind, it would be impossible to allow studios total freedom to create if forced to correlate with one another for a Marvel gaming multiverse. According to Iron Man's Executive Producer Olivier Proulx, Marvel continuously encourages him and his dev team to create a version of Tony Stark/Iron Man that is uniquely their own. Rosemann further explained the reasoning behind this.
"All of the best Marvel creations, throughout our history--comics, cartoons, films, games--are when the best talent comes to Marvel and they're teamed up with characters they love, and want to say something with. And often they want to say something new. And its Marvel's tradition to give them that freedom to tell their story. What is the new thing they want to do? It's like they're the chef. What is the meal you want to make? Oh, you can make that awesome. Here are all the ingredients."
As Motive Studios' Iron Man is still in the pre-production stage, there is currently no release window.
Source: GamesIndustry.biz