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Gaming publishers have produced plenty of titles based on superhero franchises over the years. EA seems to be the next company in line with Black Panther, if rumors are to be believed. Speaking on the Gaint Bomb podcast, industry insider Jeff Grubb said that the popular publisher has a video game featuring the Wakandan legend in the works.
This would make it the first official outing of the iconic Marvel Comics character. But what kind of game is it, and which studio is making it?
The alleged Black Panther title is from a recently formed EA development team
The untitled project is codenamed "Project Rainer" and is in very early development. It will likely be an open-world experience. Considering the expanse of such titles, players should not expect it to be released before 2024-2025.
Grubb opined that it would be a single-player title. However, given the publisher's background with online titles like Battlefield and FIFA, this is somewhat of a surprise.
But then again, they have also been pushing for the same with the upcoming Star Wars Jedi: Survivor, also narrative-driven single-player experiences. Grubb cited the popularity of Respawn Entertainment's Jedi titles as the potential catalyst for this project coming into existence.
He further elaborated on the proposed narrative, stating:
"The game starts with Black Panther being dead and the player is going to take on the challenges of becoming the new Black Panther. That seems to be the set up for the game."
He also seemed to suggest that the developer handling the game was relatively new:
"It is very likely being produced by the new Seattle studio founded by Monolith Productions Vice President and studio head Kevin Stephens. So yes, this is an EA published game."
Monolith Productions is known primarily for their work on horror first-person shooter games. They also made the recent Middle-earth titles, specifically Shadow of Mordor and Shadow of War. The endgame grind for the latter aside, these titles have been well-received by gamers. But whether this new team will live up to expectations remains to be seen.
What other games feature the Wakandan hero?
At the end of the day, if EA's recent single-player attitude is a sign of things to come, then the new Black Panther game just might be in good hands. Given the early development stage, no platform details have yet been confirmed.
However, it should be reasonable to expect the project to be out for PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC at the very least.
However, this is not the first time the Marvel hero has seen a video game outing. He has appeared in past game offerings revolving around Marvel. This includes Marvel's Avengers.
Square Enix's 2020 action game received an expansion called War for Wakanada, featuring a brand new arc revolving around Black Panther. He was also one of the unlockable heroes for Marvel's Ultimate Alliance 3: The Black Order. The Nintendo Switch-exclusive isometric action RPG was developed by Ninja Theory and released in 2019.
Disclaimer: There has been no official announcement by the developers yet. Thus, players should take the information with a pinch of salt.
