A slide that contains the licensing terms for Insomniac’s new X-Men game has leaked, revealing that Wolverine, Cyclops, and other members of Marvel’s mutant superhero team may not be showing up on Xbox any time soon.
Here’s what Insomniac Games and Marvel have agreed to for their new X-Men game, per the leaked slide, which seems to imply that PlayStation and Insomniac now pretty much have full exclusivity of the X-Men in the world of video games, or, at least, for newer, standalone titles:
Between now and December 31, 2035, Marvel cannot release or announce any X-MEN Games on console/PC/streaming, or use an X-MEN character as a competitive advantage in a game (e.g., “Play as Wolverine in Ultimate Alliance exclusively on Xbox”). X-MEN characters can appear in multi-family Marvel games (e.g., Avengers, Guardians of the Galaxy), and Marvel retains rights to children’s games and certain X-MEN games from the 1990s, but they cannot release or announce these within 45 days before or after release or announce of any of our X-MEN games.
This is followed by a Termination section, which not only suggests that multiple X-Men titles are being planned by Insomniac, but that each will have to sell at least 6 million copies to ensure that their collaboration with Marvel remains intact:
Neither party has a right to terminate the agreement for convenience, however, if we do not sell through at least 6,00,000 units on PS5/PC combined of one of the three major titles in the first year after its PlayStation console release, either party may terminate the agreement. If we terminate we must pay Marvel a $9,000,000 breakup fee, plus all unpaid portions of all guarantees. If Marvel terminates, the foregoing fees are waived. The result is that we would not develop any further titles under this agreement, but we can continue to sell all titles released before termination.
According to a roadmap that was also leaked, Insomniac’s X-Men game is expected to release by 2030, following the debut of other titles that include Marvel’s Spider-Man 3 and Wolverine.
Uncanny X-Men: The Days of Future Past, a mobile game that came out in 2014, appears to be the last X-Men game to have been released.
“Experience one of the most iconic X-Men stories as never before in ‘Uncanny X-Men: Days of Future Past,’ now available for Apple iPhone 4 (or newer), iPad 2 (or newer) and iPod touch 5th Gen worldwide today for $2.99,” reads Marvel’s description for the game.
“Can we please get an X-men game on consoles? It’s been god knows how long since the last one,” said one critic.