Last week, we reported on the surprising announcement by EA that they would be cancelling their previously-announced Black Panther project while also shutting down Cliffhanger Studios. Stated to have been done in order to “sharpen our focus and put our creative energy behind the most significant growth opportunities,” insiders have now given a much more candid explanation for what went down exactly.
As reported by known industry insider Jason Schreier via Bloomberg (paywalled), the cancellation of the Black Panther project came as a surprise to the team at Cliffhanger Games, who according to Schreier “was actively hiring staff.”
Beyond this, Black Panther had reportedly “passed what EA calls a gate – a development milestone where executives review a game’s progress and decide whether to continue production.”
The project was said to feature an evolved (and presumably legally-distinct) form of WB’s patented Nemesis System, with this title in particular featuring “various playable heroes from the comic-book universe, such as T’Challa, Killmonger and Shuri, all competing for the mantle of Black Panther. The player would take control of one of these heroes, while the others would become rivals with whom the player could cultivate relationships.”
Unfortunately, according to the report EA were not pleased that the game remained in pre-production 4 years into its development, leading to its cancellation – despite the fact that Cliffhanger Games “had only just begun scaling up.”
It’s not been the best of times for superhero-based video games, with WB’s Wonder Woman being cancelled a couple months back; Marvel 1943: Rise of Hydra getting delayed and now this. Hopefully EA’s other Marvel projects are in okay standing.
KitGuru says: Are you disappointed by the cancellation? What is EA’s strategy right now? Do you have any hopes for the Iron Man project? Let us know down below.
