EA Ends Marvel Deal, Cancels Marvel Fighting Game

Electronic Arts has confirmed that the untitled Marvel game that was in development at its now-defunct Chicago studio has officially been canceled. Furthermore, the company has ended its relationship with Marvel to develop games based off Marvel-owned properties.

"EA and Marvel have jointly agreed to discontinue development of the Marvel titles under the EA Games Label," the company informed GameTap. "This was a business decision based on EA's portfolio strategy."

Marvel, meanwhile, reaffirmed the "joint decision" portion of EA's comment but noted that today's news "will not affect Marvel's ongoing plans to release fighting games based on the Marvel properties in the future."

At present, it seems likely that future Marvel-inspired titles will be handled by Sega, which currently holds the rights to games based on The Incredible Hulk, Captain America, Thor and Iron Man. An Iron Man game, developed by Secret , Level and A2M, is slated to arrive on Xbox 360, among other unknown platforms, this summer alongside the feature film of the same name.

Announced in June 2007, the untitled Marvel fighting game was presumed canceled after the closure of EA Chicago, where it was being developed.

At the time, EA commented that it was not yet willing to discuss specific plans for the franchises formerly developed at EA Chicago, which included Def Jam and Fight Night, though it was indicated that EA Canada would be taking the reigns of the Fight Night series.