We’ve seen a slew of impressive Marvel films of late. However, maybe Captain America: Civil War tops the list with some impressive character development, the inclusion of a new crime fighting superhero and some internal fighting.
In 2015, Marvel released Ant Man, Avengers: Age of Ultron and Fantastic Four. It was a stellar lineup last year, but the comic book giants are set to outdo themselves with a robust lineup this term. Starting with Deadpool, Marvel flung their new character in at the deep end. Uncharacteristically, Deadpool was first R-Rated film released by the company. And it didn’t come without its naysayers. However, with Ryan Reynolds in the lead role, the film was a Box Office hit.
Marvel followed Deadpool with the recently released Captain America: Civil War, which has also been met with mainstream success. Setting Box Office record in three countries (Brazil, Mexico, Philippines), Marvel integrated a different dynamic into their latest release. As Captain America and Iron Man engages in an in-house feud while enlisting a slew of combatants to side with them, Marvel also called on some its most enamored superheroes to fill out the star-studded cast. And if that wasn’t enough, there’s even a new character to delight Marvel fans in the form of Black Panther, a rather nimble Kung fu expert.
Two weeks after its release, Civil War is still taking huge takings at the Box Office. Its delayed release in China – one of Marvel’s biggest markets – means the full extent of the film’s success is still to be seen. Its marketing efforts have been vast, and have had a huge effect on its reach globally. With apparel sales reaching new heights mainly down to the fact Marvel fans have been asked to side with either Captain America or Iron Man during the lead-up to its release, the company’s revenues are likely to surpass previous years.
Although we’ve seen an unrivaled amount of merchandise go on sale, Marvel seems to be dragging its heels in terms of gaming releases. They are notorious for releasing console games, yet Forbes suggest there hasn’t been any news regarding an upcoming release on Xbox and PS4. Equally, there hasn’t been any slot games unveiled by Marvel. Currently they host a slew of official titles on Gala Casino which include Captain America, The Avengers, Iron Man, Incredible Hulk and Fantastic Four slot games, however there hasn’t been an announcement regarding a Civil War release as of yet.
While this probably won’t impact the film or Marvel’s future in any way, it certainly hasn’t gone unnoticed by the gaming community. Daily Dot also wrote about how it would be a disservice to the film if we didn’t see a dedicated game especially after Marvel Games Producer Mike Jones supposedly promised that there would be some new games released this year.
However, Daily Dot writer Beth Elderkin outlines a couple of factors as to why we haven’t seen a Civil War game stating that “Marvel just doesn’t care about making video games that sell.” She went on to say “The first [reason] is demographics. One of the main reasons Disney bought Marvel in 2009 is so they could market to young boys just as much as they market to young girl with their Disney princesses, and young boys aren’t the biggest market in video games. Another reason is licensing partnerships. Apart from mobile releases, Marvel’s only been putting their characters in Lego and Disney Infiniti games. DC Comics has not only followed similar paths, with several Lego games under Batman’s belt, but they’ve also branched out and created video game ties with other more unique games, like Scribblenauts.”
So while Marvel continues to conquer the movie industry, it looks like video games just aren’t a priority right now. It’s a shame, as the many characters in Civil War would’ve resulted in some interesting gameplay.
Do you think Marvel will change its view on the gaming market and create a dedicated Captain America: Civil War game?