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To my mind, there are three main things you want from your creative leadership during a game’s development: Empathy, experience and consistency. With the report that Marvel’s Wolverine has a new game director and creative director, the final requirement must surely have taken a hit. Even so, I’m confident that Insomniac’s eagerly-anticipated superhero will be just fine. Here’s why.
“Patience Isn’t My Strongest Suit”
We’ve known about Marvel’s Wolverine for a while thanks to the infamous Insomniac leaks. But it’s been over three years since PlayStation first teased the game officially.
Helmed by Insomniac Games, developers of Marvel’s Spider-Man, Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales and Marvel’s Spider-Man 2, it’s hard to imagine a better developer to give us control of The Wolverine again. It’s hard to believe the last mainstream Wolverine game, the mediocre X-Men Origins: Wolverine, came out in 2009. What even is time anymore?
Since the reveal of Marvel’s Wolverine, though, we’ve heard almost nothing. There are rumors that we’ll hear more from Sony soon, but we should take this with a grain of salt. Not least because, according to recent reports, Marvel’s Wolverine has a new creative director and game director, with new “creative decisions around the game”. It looks like we’re going to have to wait a while longer to get our claws into Insomniac’s next superhero romp.
With Great Power…
Brian Horton, a veteran creative director who previously led the creative direction of Marvel’s Wolverine, has joined The Initiative, according to his LinkedIn profile. This means he’ll be heading the creative direction of the studio’s reboot of Perfect Dark, as his X profile confirms. We don’t know the reasons why, and it would be pointless to speculate.
Regardless, Horton’s move obviously leaves a gaping hole in Marvel’s Wolverine‘s creative leadership structure. What could quite easily be a cause for concern, however, is mitigated by Insomniac’s choice to fill Horton’s big shoes.
Reports suggest that Marvel’s Wolverine‘s new creative director is Marcus Smith, a long-time Insomniac veteran. Smith has been at the studio for 20 years and acted as one of the creative directors on Marvel’s Spider-Man, Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales and Marvel’s Spider-Man 2. Oh, and he was creative director on a small game called Ratchet and Clank: Rift Apart.
A further dig into Marcus Smith’s Moby Games page suggests he acted as creative director on the aforementioned games alongside a certain Brian Horton. In terms of experience, then, there are no worries there. The fact that Smith was creative director on the Spider-Man games, too, should reassure us that he knows how to handle a big-budget superhero title like Marvel’s Wolverine. If anything, Smith’s work on the gritty Resistance franchise while at Insomniac may serve him well for giving us the darker, M-rated Wolverine game we crave.
The X Factor
It’s such a turbulent time for the industry, that it’s hard to have complete faith in any upcoming video game these days. But if there’s anyone I’d trust to deliver on the potential Marvel’s Wolverine has, it’s Insomniac Games. Those guys simply don’t make bad games.
A major change in creative leadership midway through a game’s development can be indicative of serious issues. We don’t know what’s going on behind the scenes, so it’s hard to say how much of a creative impact Horton’s departure had. With long-standing Insomniac veteran Marcus Smith at the creative helm, though, Logan should be in good hands.
Now we just need to see more of Marvel’s Wolverine in an official capacity. Don’t let us down, Sony.
