The official reviews for Marvel’s Wolverine are coming in, and it looks like Insomniac Games’ next jump into the Marvel Comics universe isn’t going over as well as some may have hoped. Marvel’s Wolverine was expected to be one of the biggest releases of the year, and while it could still pull in great sales numbers, the critics’ reviews are a lot more mixed than expected. Of course, this doesn’t mean that Marvel’s Wolverine should be written off. There have been times when critic and player feedback have diverged. For example, Days Gone still has a strong, vocal fan base, but it received heavily mixed reviews at launch.
Whether it’s a Marvel’s Wolverine review that is largely positive or leans more negative, the discourse and critical feedback surrounding this game should be taken as a learning opportunity for future superhero games, especially one in particular. EA and Motive Studio have been working on a game based on A-list Marvel hero Iron Man for years now, and the surprising response to Marvel’s Wolverine hopefully prepares the publisher and developer ahead of the project’s eventual launch.
Marvel’s Wolverine’s Reviews Are a Reminder That Too Much Hype Can Be a Bad Thing
Even though the lead up to Marvel’s Wolverine‘s release date has been met with a lot of negative talk on social media, there are still plenty of gamers who have been looking forward to its launch. The marketing for the game has been going strong for the last year, but this moment has really been multiple years in the making. Marvel’s Wolverine hype has been building since the end of 2023, and it may have ultimately been more harmful than helpful in the long run.
December 2023 was a rough time for Insomniac Games. The studio was in the throes of enjoying Marvel’s Spider-Man 2‘s impressive sales numbers and praise when a hacker group leaked around 1.6 TB worth of data and dumped it onto the internet. There were a lot of intriguing projects mentioned in the Insomniac Games leaks, but the game that caught a lot of peoples’ attention was Marvel’s Wolverine.
In addition to Marvel’s Wolverine, other projects mentioned in the leaks included a Venom game, Marvel’s Spider-Man 3, a new Ratchet & Clank entry, an X-Men project, and even an unannounced original IP.
It wasn’t a total surprise that Marvel’s Wolverine was present in the leaks. After all, Insomniac had originally announced it during a PlayStation showcase back in 2021. However, the hackers leaked a wild amount of information that included huge spoilers like early in-game testing and plot details. This kickstarted the beginning of three years’ worth of speculation about what Marvel’s Wolverine‘s gameplay would be like, and it may have been too much.
Following Up Marvel’s Spider-Man Was Always Going to Be Hard, Regardless of Hype
Even though Marvel’s Spider-Man and its sequel had divisive moments, like the MJ stealth missions, the games were praised and felt innovative. Switching from Peter Parker and Miles Morales’ web-slinging to Logan’s grounded traversal and combat is a tough transition to pull off. Granted, this kind of gameplay only makes sense for Marvel’s Wolverine‘s combat, but I wonder if the reviews would have panned out differently if Insomniac had made a Wolverine game first instead of a Spider-Man story. It could have made the game’s combat and storytelling feel more like the foundation to the beginning of something bigger instead of a letdown.
Now, EA Motive’s Iron Man Game Has to Avoid the Same Fate
Easy, right? Unfortunately, it looks like there have already been some Iron Man game leaks that EA Motive has had to address on Twitter. One leak is still better than the amount of information that came out about Marvel’s Wolverine back in 2023, though. The footage leaked for Marvel’s Iron Man seems to be a concept trailer, as some of the assets were still unfinished.
It’s been a tough landscape for superhero games in general for the past few years. Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League ended the game’s content updates after a year, and Monolith’s Wonder Woman game and EA’s Black Panther project were shut down. Even more worrying, the fate of Marvel’s Blade by Arkane Lyon has been put into question.
Right now, it’s unclear exactly when EA Motive plans on revealing the first official footage for Marvel’s Iron Man, but if the finished trailer drops sometime before this year is over, there is one clear event that would make for a perfect announcement stage. The 2026 Game Awards arrive in December, and since it’s the biggest gaming event of the year, it wouldn’t be too surprising to see EA Motive’s Tony Stark-led project included in the announcement lineup.
With the constant stream of information that is coming from news outlets and content creators always needing to keep conversations going in order to remain relevant in such a fast-paced age, it’s going to be increasingly difficult for Marvel’s Iron Man to avoid the Marvel’s Wolverine hype. It isn’t entirely impossible, though. If EA Motive debuts a Marvel’s Iron Man announcement trailer at this year’s Game Awards, the studio could get ahead of the curve by revealing more than just a short teaser. Throwing some kind of gameplay footage into the mix would give audiences a better understanding of what the game is going to be like early on in the marketing cycle instead of leaving room for gamers to make assumptions and raise expectations for several years.
The canceled Black Panther and Wonder Woman games mean that after Marvel’s Wolverine, all eyes are really on EA Motive and its Iron Man story. Insomniac will have the third Marvel’s Spider-Man chapter to bring forth, but when it comes to fresh superhero games, Marvel’s Iron Man is waiting in the wings to make its big debut. The good news is that, depending on how far along Marvel’s Iron Man is in development, EA Motive could potentially use the Marvel’s Wolverine critiques as a guide on what not to do with the project’s gameplay.
- Released
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September 15, 2026
- ESRB
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Mature 17+ / Blood and Gore, Drug Reference, Intense Violence, Partial Nudity, Strong Language, In-Game Purchases
- Publisher(s)
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Sony Interactive Entertainment
