Insomniac Games Wants to Make a Gambit Video Game

Last week saw the release of Marvel's Wolverine—a new superhero action-adventure title from Insomniac Games. The game is the latest addition to Earth-1048—the same universe where the Marvel's Spider-Man series takes place—and features a number of well-known characters, including Jean Grey, Mystique, Sabretooth, and various organizations.

The studio is expected to spend the coming months fixing technical issues in Marvel's Wolverine, but rumors suggest the developers have long been working on new projects: Marvel's Venom and Marvel's Spider-Man 3. Not to mention that Marvel's Wolverine sets up the events for future mutant adventures and is the first step toward establishing the X-Men. Meanwhile, Insomniac Games Technical Director Mike Fitzgerald stated on the Theory Unlocked podcast he would like to make a game about Gambit—one of the most famous mutants in the Marvel Universe. According to him, the character’s abilities—including playing cards imbued with kinetic energy, as well as his combat staff and spectacular, acrobatic fighting style—are a perfect fit for what the studio does in its Marvel-based games.

The most interesting thing is: Marvel's Wolverine seems to confirm Gambit's existence in the Earth-1048 universe. Specifically, in the casino level, you can spot a playing card bearing Gambit's real name—Remy LeBeau. Perhaps this was a hint from the developers that the character will appear, for instance, in Marvel's Wolverine 2, if the game is ever released. The game also features references to other mutants, including Cyclops, Beast, Angel, Dazzler, and others. Recently, a reference to Rogue, another well-known mutant, was also discovered, but fans aren’t thrilled that Insomniac decided to portray her as a woman of color, which contradicts her looks in the comics.

Last week, Marvel's Wolverine was revealed to have sold 1.9 million copies, making it PlayStation Studios' most successful launch of the year. However, according to Alinea Analytics, the game is not expected to be as big a financial hit as Marvel's Spider-Man 2 due to mixed reviews from the gaming press and players. Based on preliminary data, Marvel's Wolverine needs to sell 6 million copies in its first year to meet Sony's expectations. Currently, its Metacritic score is 77, and its user score is 7.0.

Marvel's Wolverine is available exclusively on PlayStation 5.