Marvel had big dreams for a Spider-Man game (they came true!)
A Change in Direction
Sony was not always working with Marvel to create their games. Marvel was originally working with Activision, but they were not pleased with the quality of games being released at the time.
Due to the dissatisfaction Jay Ong, executive vice president and head of Marvel Games, ended the deal short with Activision to find something better. When Ong informed Activision of his desire to part ways, they agreed and the deal was cut short on mutual terms. Ong was honest when he was asked what he was going to do with Marvel, he said "I am going to find something better."
In 2014, Ong was hired as Marvel's VP of games, and he took this job seriously. After the departure with Activision, he met with Sony and Microsoft to pitch the gaming potential that Marvel held. As we know, the deal with Microsoft never came to fruition as Microsoft's direction was to focus on their own IPs, and no offer was given.
Sign, Sealed, Delivered
However in August 2014, Ong met with Adam Boyes and John Drake, two PlayStation executives who work with third-party deals. Alas, a deal was struck and Sony offered to make a PlayStation exclusive. They gave this project to Insomniac Games, who were independent at the time, but are now owned by PlayStation Studios.
Marvel's Spider-Man is the 3rd best selling game for PS4, and was in the top 10 best selling games for 2018. The sequel for this game is slated for a 2023 release, exclusively for PS5.
Check out the teaser trailer for Spider-Man 2:
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