Spider-Man to join Marvel's Avengers game, but only on PlayStation
Sorry, Xbox owners.
Spider-Man will join Marvel's Avengers in 2021 as free DLC for Sony consoles.
Your friendly neighborhood Spider-Man will be swinging through Marvel's Avengers -- if you're playing on a PlayStation. Spider-Man will be inserted into the game, due for release on Sept. 4, in a post-launch DLC pack for PlayStation 4 and 5 owners in "early 2021."
"When Spider-Man comes to our stable of heroes, we'll be marking his debut with an in-game event that will introduce him to the wider world of Marvel's Avengers," Jeff Adams, associate art director at Avengers developer Crystal Dynamics, said in a PlayStation blog post. "The event is comprised of a series of unique challenges for the hero to take on, testing his abilities, and yielding some exciting results.
"We can't wait for you to add Spider-Man to your Marvel's Avengers roster in early 2021, and as we've promised before, he will be available at no additional cost to owners of the base game, exclusively on PlayStation."
Spidey isn't the only extra hero in the pipeline, as Hawkeye has also been promised as a DLC character. Marvel's Avengers will launch with six playable characters: Thor, Iron Man, Captain America, The Hulk, Black Widow and Ms. Marvel. Other than PlayStation consoles , Marvel's Avengers will release on Xbox One, PC, Google Stadia and, later, Xbox Series X.
It's the second time Spidey has been pledged to the PlayStation platform in as many months. Back in June, Sony announced Spider-Man: Miles Morales, a spin-off to 2018's acclaimed Spider-Man PS4 game. The game will launch alongside the PlayStation 5, though we don't yet know when that will be.
Reminiscent of Sony almost pulling Spider-Man out of the Marvel Cinematic Universe to reboot yet another Spidey franchise, some gamers are likely to be disappointed that such a major character will be exclusive to Sony platforms. Yet such moves look to be a large part of the next generation of console wars. With Sony and Microsoft preparing to launch the PS5 and Xbox Series X later this year, the former's executive vice president of Europe, Simon Rutter, told The Guardian last month that exclusive content is "more important than ever."