Niantic revealed MARVEL World of Heroes, a new mobile game set in the Marvel multiverse. The game was revealed during Disney’s D23 Expo that took place on September 9, 2022, and it’s all about bringing super heroes from the Marvel universe outdoors, into the real world.
The game is set to launch in 2023, with a soft launch starting soon and will initially be available in limited markets for beta testing.
You can watch the reveal here:
More MARVEL World of Heroes information shared by Niantic’s Phil Hong
IGN held an interview with Niantic’s Phil Hong about the game, with more information revealed through that conversation:
Hong was previously one of the developers who worked on MARVEL Future Fight, and multiple members of the development team have a strong background in the Marvel universe.
Hong also shared that MARVEL World of Heroes will have a strong connection to real world locations from the Marvel universe, such as Avengers Tower, Fantastic Four building, Spider Man’s home.
None of these locations have been confirmed, but Hong shared that the game is built with strong location awareness in mind, especially when it comes to types of quests which will be available to players.
The core feeling that Niantic wants players to experience is that we are all heroes. “We are all heroes” is a mantra which is built into each aspect of the game, and the game will strongly focus on social gameplay.
Hong also shared that the game is set in the entire Marvel universe, and they are not tied to a particular franchise. Avengers, X-Men, Spider Man and more is to be expected, but that’s not all – Marvel’s multiverse is also in play:
We aren’t content with augmenting reality with a single version of the Marvel Universe, and will let you travel to multiple alternate realities in the Marvel Multiverse to engage with different characters and stories in the same location
The game prides itself in providing players with vast avatar customisation options, and it gives a lot of flexibility for players to express different body types, gender expressions, and outfit customisation.
We also found out that secret Hydra bases will be a thing in this game, and the game will feature a number of secrets for players to discover.
More information from Niantic
Niantic’s official blog post shared a short interview with Neil Melville, Lead Game Designer, and Lyza Faylona, Senior Producer on MARVEL World of Heroes. You can read their take on the game below.
What has it felt like working on MARVEL World of Heroes?
It has been a joy to work with this talented and passionate team in crafting a game that will let players get a taste of the Super Hero lifestyle right in their own neighborhoods. It is my goal that this game instills in its players feelings of freedom, power, curiosity, and cooperation, and will inspire them to make the world a better place. – Neil Melville, Lead Game Designer
The best part about being a producer on MARVEL World of Heroes is I get to experience first-hand all of the awesome work by the team through the lens of both a player and game developer. Some days my world revolves around team operations, and other days it’s partnering with our creative and technology leads on upcoming features. – Lyza Faylona, Senior Producer
What are you personally most excited about for players to experience in the game?
I am very excited about the character avatar system in MARVEL World of Heroes, because it gives a lot of flexibility for players to express different body types, gender expressions, and outfit customization. I can’t wait to see what kind of characters the players will create on their journey to become famous local heroes. – NM
I love MMORPGs, so I’m most excited about bringing that to the real world. To arrive at a location, view and interact with it through the lens of a Marvel Super Hero is what I’m really excited about. I can’t wait to see how players interact with these locations and form their own origin stories. – LF
Who is your favorite Marvel character and why?
Spider-Man is my favorite Marvel Super Hero because despite being a really smart guy with super strength and incredible agility, he never gives up being a friendly neighborhood hero who has to deal with normal problems in addition to crime bosses, robots, aliens, vampires, and robot alien vampire crime bosses. – NM
I honestly gravitate towards Super Villains but if you ask me for my favorite MARVEL Super Hero it would be Ms. Marvel, a.k.a Kamala Khan. Her origin story really resonates with me – how she navigates through labels imposed on her and how she finds her identity by embracing her super power. – LF
What do you think may surprise Marvel fans when they play MARVEL World of Heroes for the first time?
We aren’t content with augmenting reality with a single version of the Marvel Universe, and will let you travel to multiple alternate realities in the Marvel Multiverse to engage with different characters and stories in the same location. – NM
The Marvel Multiverse. There’s just so many stories to tell and MARVEL characters to interact with that we couldn’t limit ourselves to just one reality! – LF
