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When Insomniac Games, the developers behind Spider-Man games, fell victim to a hacker attack last year, a treasure trove of information was unearthed.
Among the leaks was a tantalizing trailer for a canceled live service game titled “Spider-Man: The Great Web” which is now circulating online.
The footage reveals a multiplayer experience that brings together multiple Spider-heroes and villains from across the multiverse in what appears to be a mashup of the studio’s existing Spider-Man games with the interdimensional Spider-Verse.
So What Exactly Was The Great Web?
The Great Web seems to have taken the beloved open-world gameplay of Insomniac’s Spider-Man titles and reimagined it as an online co-op adventure.
It all started with Scarlet Witch opening up the multiverse, leading to the events of Spider-Man: The Great Web.
Players could team up as 5 different Spider-characters to web-swing through a stunningly rendered Manhattan:
- Peter Parker,
- Miles Morales
- Spider-Gwen
- Spider-Man 2099 (Miguel O’Hara)
- Ben Reilly/Scarlet Spider
- Spider-Man Noir
The trailer teases epic showdowns against an army of supervillains including
- Venom
- Doc Ock,
- Rhino,
- Electro,
- Sinister Six – Doctor Octopus, Electro, Kraven the Hunter, Mysterio, Sandman, and Vulture
Multiversal mayhem is on full display, with segments like a noir-tinged 1930s cityscape and a vibrant, almost hand-drawn level straight out of a child’s imagination.
Trailer for Insomniac’s canceled multiplayer game, Spider-Man: The Great Web. Man, this would’ve been cool.
pic.twitter.com/Ogsl07Cg0j— Cy (@Cybrid101) March 12, 2024
Why Was It Cancelled?
While details are scant on the exact reasons for the plug being pulled, the game seemed incredibly ambitious – perhaps too ambitious for its own good.
- Live Service Game Endeavour: As a live service game, it requires huge investment especially continuing to add engaging content regularly in the game to increase player engagement. Recent live-service superhero games like Marvel’s Avengers and Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League have struggled to gain traction, raising concerns about the viability of such a model. It looks like Spider-Man: The Great Web has fallen into the same trap and so Insomniac decided to cancel it.
- Disney/Sony Revenue Sharing Dispute: There are also reports that the Disney/Sony partnership behind the game soured over revenue-sharing disagreements. Disney demanded more revenue split in the game (as it includes many MCU characters) instead of the existing share. So Sony decided to drop the idea and continue with its own IPs.
With so many overlapping stakeholders from gaming, film, and comic book rights holders, The Great Web may have gotten tangled in its own web of corporate conflicts.
Either way, the leaked footage is a tantalizing glimpse at what could have been a bold, one-of-a-kind multiplayer romp through the Spider-Verse.
Who knows, maybe the cancellation is just a strange quirk of the multiverse and we’ll see The Great Web resurface in another reality?
A Spider-fan can dream, can’t they?