EA Cancels Black Panther Game and Closes Studio Making It

Marvel fans got some bad news yesterday when it was announced that EA had not only cancelled the upcoming Black Panther game they had in development, but also closed the studio making the game. This news will disappoint many fans, but it’s worth keeping in mind that EA still has three other Marvel games they’re developing. The studio in question, Cliffhanger Games, was created to make the Black Panther game and was led by Kevin Stephens. Stephens had previously worked on titles like Halo, God of War, and Call of Duty. While the Black Panther game had no title, it was meant to be your bog-standard third-person action-adventure single-player title. 

EA’s decision to cancel this title is in line with their overall corporate strategy of moving away from licensed IPs. They announced these plans at the same time they laid off about 670 of their employees. This began several years ago when they dropped the FIFA license in favor of renaming the game EA FC and saw little dropoff after doing so. FIFA demanded more and more money to use their name, and EA decided the sport was big enough that it didn’t need FIFA like it would need MLB, NBA, or the NFL to use those logos and their players. Unlike those leagues, soccer clubs negotiate their deals and can license their own logos, allowing EA to essentially create the entire game without needing the FIFA name attached. The only thing they lost access to was the name “World Cup.” 

Many Marvel fans are still awaiting news on the upcoming Sony Wolverine game. While we’ve been told it’s still on track for it’s development cycle, fans have been given absolutely nothing by way of gameplay, a plot, or what the game is going to look like outside of leaks. While the leaks that are out there show an impressive-looking game and how Wolverine’s senses operate within the structure of the game, it’s not polished, without context, and only makes fans want to hear and see more. 

To clear up some confusion, the game that was canceled is absolutely NOT the Black Panther, Captain America, and Howling Commando team-up game set in the 1940s. That game is being made by Skydance and is titled Marvel 1943: Rise of Hydra. Rise of Hydra is back on schedule and will be released next year, should everything go to plan. The Cliffhanger Studios Black Panther game was, once again, barely into production and had not even really gotten too far off the ground. If you were dreading that this was that game, you can set your worries aside; Not only are the two projects unrelated, but they’re not even being made by the same companies. 

Sadly, this is a continuing trend in the game space. As more and more financial companies begin to invest in games, IPs, and gaming developers, we’re seeing a focus on bottom lines and stock prices, none of which care about the developers’ lives or their work. If firing 20 people and closing a studio can help them add an extra point or two to their stock price, those games will be yeeted into oblivion without a second thought. They could even be a Game of the Year nominee — see: Hi-Fi Rush — and it will not matter. They will shut it down and nuke the IP. 

As for EA and Marvel, they still have an upcoming Iron Man game they’re determined to release. For now, the game is being titled “Marvel’s Iron Man,” but time will tell if the cancellation of this game was a sign of things to come, and their three-game deal with Marvel will be adjusted or outright cancelled. For now, all we can do is wait and try to enjoy the other Marvel titles coming out. Right now, we will be getting a beat ’em up from Dotemu called Marvel: Cosmic Invasion, and I’m sure that Nintendo may have something in the works with Marvel since their new console releases next week. You can keep it locked right here on BSO for all the upcoming information from Marvel Games.

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