Hennig, perhaps best known for her work as head writer and creative director on Naughty Dog’s first three Uncharted games, joined Skydance back in 2019. Prior to that, she was working on a highly-anticipated Star Wars title in conjunction with Visceral Games - a long-in-development project which was ultimately cancelled by EA. Skydance Media is the Hollywood studio behind the likes of Mission: Impossible - Fallout and Terminator: Dark Fate, but Hennig’s arrival at the company in 2019 signified its first step into video games. At the time, Skydance said its new studio - lead by Hennig and Julian Beak - would concentrate on creating “new story-focused experiences [that] employ state-of-the-art computer graphics to provide the visual fidelity of television and film, but with an active, lean-in experience that puts the audience in the driver’s seat”. And now, almost two years later, we finally know what Skydance New Media (as the company’s video game studio has been officially named) will be working on first. Although specifics on the new Marvel game are limited, it’s described as a AAA title featuring a “completely original story and take on the Marvel Universe”. Skydance New Media’s development focus is said to be on “traditional gaming platforms as well as emerging streaming services”, but it’s currently unclear where its Marvel title will appear. “I can’t imagine a better partner than Marvel for our first game,” Hennig said in a statement accompanying the announcement of Skydance’s new title. “The Marvel Universe epitomises all the action, mystery, and thrills of the pulp adventure genre that I adore and lends itself perfectly to an interactive experience. It’s an honour to be able to tell an original story with all the humanity, complexity, and humour that makes Marvel characters so enduring and to enable our players to embody these heroes that they love.” Skydance says its assembled “an accomplished crew of developers with decades of AAA experience in action and adventure gaming” to work on its new title, which follows two big-budget Marvel efforts from publisher Square Enix - last year’s disappointing Marvel’s Avengers and the more recent Guardians of the Galaxy. XCOM developer Firaxis is also deep in the Marvelverse, with its tactical RPG Midnight Suns currently due to launch in March next year.
