Marvel Universe multiplayer online games slated for 2012

With Captain America and The Avengers movies slated for 2011 and 2012 respectively, Marvel is already planning to release multiplayer online games to follow the films in 2012. The company announced a couple of weeks ago that it will partner and sign a 10-year exclusivity agreement with video game developer Gazillion Entertainment to produce the online titles based on its library of superhero characters.

The MMO game will encounter some already established competition from DC Comics. DC Universe Online will release their own MMO version sometime in late 2009-early 2010. The DC Universe Online game will also strive to appeal to the female audience because of the large number of women that attended The Dark Knight screenings. Creative Director Jens Andersen tells MTV Multiplayer about their attempt to appeal to a female audience:

"Wonder Woman is in our game; she’s one of the most recognizable female characters in the world. So the appeal that we have as far as just female presence in the [intellectual property] is very large. The amount of customization that you get to do — we’re taking a lot of care in terms of like what types of characters and archetypes that women gravitate to when they play — have the cute character, we have the motherly character, we have the sexy character — all the different kind of traits you can kind of choose from and can identify with."

The Marvel MMO is still in its early stages, Marvel has not picked characters or plots for the game yet. They are still working on potential environments and how to utilize World of Warcraft's strategy of teaching users how to use the interface and extra features slowly as they level in the game.

In 2010, expect the much simpler Marvel MMO, Super-Hero Squad, aimed at five-to-nine-year olds. It will be browser-based game and it will offer social networking and game applications features.

Related links:
News: Jon Favreau spills beans about Avengers line-up
News: Marvel links with Paramount; Iron Man 2, more on way
News: Iron Man 2 to begin production soon, or maybe not

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