Sony Flaunts Marvel’s Avengers Exclusives In PlayStation Advantage Trailer
Sony has been busy promoting PlayStation-exclusive content in the upcoming action game Marvel's Avengers, including legendary outfits, community challenges, and, most notably, Spider-Man as a playable DLC character. The game was announced in 2017 and was immediately criticized for the character models shown in the trailer. Crystal Dynamics has been accepting and responding to these critiques and updating the models accordingly.
That's far from the only controversy that the game has been involved in during its development period, though. Sony recently revealed that Spider-Man, a beloved Marvel hero whom Sony has played host to before, will be appearing in Marvel's Avengers as a free DLC character in 2021. However, he will only be appearing on PlayStation consoles. The PC and Xbox versions of the game will not feature the character at all. Furthermore, Spider-Man is the only exclusive DLC character coming to Marvel's Avengers. That's led to some understandable outrage among fans who intend to play the game on different systems, and who don't appreciate the iconic web-slinger being kept from them.
Sony doesn't seem to mind the controversy, though. In a recent trailer posted to YouTube, Sony all but rubs players' noses in the fact that Spider-Man will be coming exclusively to PlayStation. The trailer repeatedly calls for players to "assemble on PlayStation" for benefits such as early beta access, early access to rare character costumes, and exclusive community challenges. The last thing players are told to assemble for is, of course, Spider-Man. No actual footage of the hero was shown in the trailer, but PlayStation still seemed to relish his imminent arrival on its consoles.
This trailer is unlikely to soothe any of the ire following the announcement of Spider-Man. For Xbox owners upset by the news, it could almost be interpreted as an open taunt from the official PlayStation YouTube channel. If developer Scott Amos's ramblingly dismissive response to the outrage wasn't enough to calm people down, it's hard to believe PlayStation's smug new trailer will fare any better.
It's easy to see why Spider-Man is exclusive to PlayStation copies of the game; Sony gets far too much value out of keeping Spider-Man to itself to consider sharing the iconic character. Sony's control over the friendly neighborhood web-slinger has even caused problems before when it bumps up against the greater intellectual property of Marvel. This was evident last year when Disney and Sony came to a significant disagreement over Spider-Man's continued inclusion in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. As much as fans want to see all the Marvel heroes interacting freely with no strings attached, Sony's involvement makes this all but impossible. For better or for worse, Spider-Man stays with Sony, and that means that when Marvel's Avengers does release, the web-slinger will stay firmly tied to PlayStation.
Marvel's Avengers will be available on PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Stadia, and PC on September 4th, 2020.
Source: PlayStation/YouTube