In a completely surprising move, this morning Marvel formally announced that they are partnering with Skydance New Media and most importantly, Amy Hennig. Hennig is known for the work she has put in these past couple of decades with released titles and franchises Legacy of Kain and Uncharted as well as the upcoming action-RPG Forspoken.
While we know nothing beyond this announcement of a partnership, it is still very exciting to see what Skydance New Media chooses to work on, as they are a newly formed studio under the Skydance Media banner. This studio is still young, only formed in 2019 using the expertise of Hennig and Julian Beak who himself has worked on franchises like Battlefield, Need for Speed, and Star Wars (former Electronic Arts executive) as the foundation.
What is noteworthy though would be the direction that the studio has already paved for themselves and what we could anticipate as their first entry. Jay Ong of Marvel Entertainment had this to say about Hennig and her work:
Amy has been setting the bar for narrative adventure games for decades and we are happy to be collaborating with the talented and experienced New Media team at Skydance.
Hennig herself had some things to add as well, which really caught my attention:
The Marvel Universe epitomizes all the action, mystery and thrills of the pulp adventure genre that I adore and lends itself perfectly to an interactive experience. It’s an honor to be able to tell an original story with all the humanity, complexity, and humor that makes Marvel characters so enduring and to enable our players to embody these heroes that they love.
It seems we could see a new character amongst our known and loveable heroes in this project! The inclusion of both the pulp-adventure and original story in her quote made bells ring. If you recall my coverage of the Midnight Sons reveal, we also got a new playable character in it “The Hunter.”
I hope we end up with some sort of adventure game set in the Marvel universe with Hennig’s vast experience in not only crafting great stories but making them so memorable. With the imminent release of the Uncharted film, the level of esteem for her work is present throughout the trailer showing callbacks to significant parts of the games.
Skydance New Media is a new studio with nothing published yet, but the years of talent and Hennig at the helm will be a masterful pairing to allow Marvel to offer more interactive stories for its countless fans across the globe.
Source: Marvel.com announcement, Skydance New Media Studio announcement
