James Gunn and Peter Safran have some pretty big plans for connecting the DC Universe (DCU), including video games. But at least one developer is skeptical about this approach.
In response to the news that Gunn and Safran plan to add games to the overall plan for the DCU, Firaxis Games designer Jake Solomon tweeted, “This would have been a nightmare for us at Midnight Suns. I understand the desire (I think) but movies and games are so, so different. And the pressure this puts on the great voice actors in the game room? Different universes. And that’s how they should/will stay.”
That would have been a nightmare for us at Midnight Suns. I understand the desire (I think), but movies and games are so, so different. And the pressure it puts on the great voice actors in gaming? Different universes. And that’s how they should/will stay. https://t.co/grKQGkhCsl
— Jake Solomon (@SolomonJake) February 1, 2023
Solomon co-directed Marvel’s Midnight Suns, which incorporated many stylistic cues from the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU), but ultimately diverged from it.
This approach had a number of benefits for the Marvel’s Midnight Suns development team, including access to characters like Venom and greater creative freedom in the story. In various conversations over the years, quite a few developers have expressed frustration with Star Wars’ strict restrictions on counting games in their official canon.
One way or another, however, the new DCU will try to integrate games, whatever that ultimately turns out to be. Meanwhile, Midnight Suns has been well received, receiving positive word of mouth and strong reviews.
“With Marvel’s Midnight Suns, Firaxis has joined the league of RPG developers like BioWare, Obsidian, Bethesda and Larian,” we wrote in our review. “Its innovative turn-based hero combat system takes a little time to get going, but once it does it makes excellent use of card game mechanics to keep combat fresh, evolving and unpredictable over the course of an epic campaign – bashing enemies into stuff to increase damage is endlessly entertaining.”
Marvel’s Midnight Suns is available now for PC, PS5 and Xbox Series X|S. As for the DCU, which was officially unveiled earlier this week, you can check out everything that has been announced here.
Kat Bailey is Senior News Editor at IGN and co-host of Nintendo Voice Chat. Do you have a tip? DM her to @the_katbot.