The Marvel MMO that was being developed by Dimensional Ink Games, a division of Daybreak Game Company, has been canceled. The Sweden-based video game parent company Enad Global 7 announced that they would be “discontinuing the development of the Marvel project at Daybreak Games,” despite revealing the game only six months ago.
Why the Marvel MMO was canceled
First unveiled in late November 2021, the Marvel MMO was included in EG7’s Q3 2021 investor presentation. At the time of the announcement, there were rumors that Sony had signed a deal with an unknown developer to create a DC Universe Online-type game in the Marvel universe. The project was being led by Jack Emmert, who headed DC Universe Online at Daybreak and was involved in the development of Marvel Universe Online at Cryptic Studios before it was also canceled by Microsoft in 2008.
However, EG7 has decided to shift its priorities to other long-term projects in its portfolio, stating via press release (the part in brackets is a clarification from us):
The company had planned to invest more than SEK 500 million [that’s about $50 million US dollars] in the Marvel project over the next three years. The company will now diversify this investment across multiple, smaller size projects within the group, including the previously announced major upgrades to The Lord of the Rings Online and DC Universe Online, and new game opportunities with our first party, original IPs.
As the holding company owns multiple studios including Piranha Games who develops MechWarrior and Big Blue Bubble who develops My Singing Monster, the company will easily be able to reallocate the budget from the Marvel MMO to other games. EG7 promises that “the change to the Marvel project plan will not impact” its medium-term revenues and profits.
Another factor in the game’s cancellation would be Emmert, according to his LinkedIn profile, having left Dimensional Ink Games in March 2022 and becoming the CEO for Jackalope Games, the first US studio by NetEase Games, earlier this month.
In other news, Sony has confirmed that users who paid for PS Plus subscriptions at a discount will likely need to pay a higher upgrade price, and a reliable insider has said that a Sly Cooper announcement will likely be coming in September.
