Sega assembling next-gen Iron Man

Marvel grants Sonic Factory exclusive rights to make games based on its classic comic book and another unnamed superhero franchise.

For the past several years, games based on Marvel Comics have come from one studio--Activision. In a deal signed in early 2003, the publisher locked down the game rights to four classic comic franchises--X-Men, Spider-Man, Fantastic 4, and Iron Man--through 2009.

The Iron Man teaser poster.

However, back in July, Activision reps confirmed to GameSpot that it was no longer making a game based on Iron Man. Though they declined to give any details, spokespersons for Marvel did say that a new publisher had scooped up game rights to the superhero and that there would be an announcement in the fall.

Today, the unnamed company was unmasked when Sega announced it "has been granted the exclusive interactive rights to develop and distribute games based on both Marvel's Iron Man feature films and the classic comic book iterations of the character." No specific consoles were mentioned in today's announcement, though Sega did say the games would be on "next-gen gaming platforms."

The first Iron Man film is due out on May 2, 2008. It will be directed by Jon Favreau and will star Robert Downey Jr. (Kiss Kiss Bang Bang) and Terrence Howard (Hustle & Flow). It is also the first film self-financed by Marvel, which has enjoyed a surge of revenue from successful films like X3: The Last Stand and popular games such as the X-Men Legends series.

"Sega is excited to be publishing the next-gen interactive entertainment based on Iron Man, the first Marvel Studios project being brought to the wide screen," said Simon Jeffery, Sega of America's president and COO.

Apparently, the Iron Man deal will be only the beginning of the Sega-Marvel relationship. Sega described the agreement as "a first step in a strategic partnership between Marvel and Sega to bring at least one additional Marvel Superhero property to next-gen platforms."

The deal also comes just weeks after Marvel announced it is developing a massively multiplayer online-role playing game exclusively for the Xbox 360. The game will be published by Microsoft and developed by Cryptic Studios, whose own superhero-based MMORPG, City of Heroes, has proven popular on PCs.

83 Comments

  • ratchetcooper1

    Posted Sep 13, 2007 5:06 pm PT

    First of all its a marvel production which is definitely a must have i love marvel and dc the only marvel game i dont have is rise of the imperfects because it sucked balls.

  • MoogleDragoon

    Posted Dec 16, 2006 7:49 am PT

    Ironman woooo

  • Geekbasher

    Posted Dec 11, 2006 3:38 pm PT

    It'll be cool as long as they use the black sabbath song

  • kamicolo

    Posted Dec 11, 2006 3:13 pm PT

    good news, i hope the game let's ya fly

  • jazilla

    Posted Dec 11, 2006 11:22 am PT

    Lots of comic games have been good. But I don't remember an outstanding one yet.

  • _Sam_

    Posted Nov 12, 2006 11:56 am PT

    I at least hope the movie is good

  • RaiKageRyu

    Posted Nov 12, 2006 3:17 am PT

    That Iron Man looks weird...

  • DangerousFat

    Posted Nov 12, 2006 12:41 am PT

    Iron Man is one of Marvel's heavy hitters, he comstantly comes in the Top 10 every month. As far as the game is concerned, I think SEGA has the potential to make it fantastic. Then again, I think ANY company has that potential. So, either way I'm jonesing for the movie and now the game... better be on my shiny PS3 though.

  • MoreCowbell6924

    Posted Nov 11, 2006 2:15 pm PT

    Hope its good

  • Platyphyllum

    Posted Nov 7, 2006 7:03 pm PT

    Nintendus
    Sega gave us crap with Sonic, I hope they don't ruin this game.....
    _______________________________________________________
    ^^ How can ANYONE say sonic isn't one the greatest game series's ever made? Sonic >>> MGS ffs. The only ones I can see that beat sonic are LoZ, Mario, and Resi.

    Captain america's a gay lol. Iron man is the daddy, but even Mon 'o' War would destroy captain america

    I love Sonic, but have you not played Shadow The Hedgehog?

    How dare you even call that a Sonic game, it is a very unfabulous game and doesn't deserve to be part of the Sonic universe

  • GrimBee

    Posted Nov 7, 2006 12:02 pm PT

    Medieval total war looks good from sega, yakuza wasnt TOO bad, super monkey ball looks great fun for the wii... thats about it really.. oh and virtua fighter 5 and virtua tennis 3 looks fab..

    Oh, and house of the dead 4..

    Ok ok, sega are great. But its the divisions of sega that you should be concerned with, which division of sega is making this? am2? No way.. sonic team? nope... then who? Yu Suzuki?! lol

    Iron man, to me, can only go ONE way.. and that is of the Metroid Prime direction. You know, instead of being any random platform game with guns and hover ability.. I think there should be some awesomeness thrown in, like seeing through iron mans eyes, and changing weapons.. you know, like terminator vision or something..

    BUT, Segas creativity could only go as far as the movie goes. I love the prospect of movie to game creations, but its crap to see none of the movie actually converted (like the atmosphere for one).

    If the iron man movie is like a really bad one (darkman anyone?) then the game will have some sucky things to base itself on. BUT could make the whole premise of ironman actually being fun..

    Although.. it didnt work for hulk..

    And even though Blade 1 was great.. the game was flippin terrible..

    I would be really pleased if the game would be done by someone like Hideo Kojima.. but then I would also like the movie to be done by him to.. lol.

    I guess it depends what you are looking for, I am looking for the metroid prime sort of detail and interaction with things, with the opertunity of first and third person views etc, and outfit changes etc.
    But others might just want a gta type of "i.. am.. iron man..." and whilst stamping out the lives of countless enemies wherever you like, you continue "dadadadadada da da da daaa"

    Im going to wait and see how the movie fares, if it sucks, then the game will suck. IMO. Because Sega will have nothing left to make it a worthy LISCENCE. Sega CAN go in many directions with this project though, and I hope its not some sort of "ironman... and friends" sort of wierdness like with the last 3 sonic games made (heroes, riders and shadow..).

  • SavoyPrime

    Posted Nov 7, 2006 5:58 am PT

    Sega hasn't had the best track record as of late. So I'll expect the worst from this.

  • expired311

    Posted Nov 7, 2006 5:42 am PT

    Aw geez. SEGA can hardly do anything right nowadays.

  • Nintendus

    Posted Nov 7, 2006 5:24 am PT

    Nintendus
    Sega gave us crap with Sonic, I hope they don't ruin this game.....
    _______________________________________________________
    ^^ How can ANYONE say sonic isn't one the greatest game series's ever made? Sonic >>> MGS ffs. The only ones I can see that beat sonic are LoZ, Mario, and Resi.

    Captain america's a gay lol. Iron man is the daddy, but even Mon 'o' War would destroy captain america

    I love Sonic, but have you not played Shadow The Hedgehog?

  • Jondommy

    Posted Nov 7, 2006 3:18 am PT

    Nintendus
    Sega gave us crap with Sonic, I hope they don't ruin this game.....
    _______________________________________________________
    ^^ How can ANYONE say sonic isn't one the greatest game series's ever made? Sonic >>> MGS ffs. The only ones I can see that beat sonic are LoZ, Mario, and Resi.

    Captain america's a gay lol. Iron man is the daddy, but even Mon 'o' War would destroy captain america

  • Nautafoeda

    Posted Nov 6, 2006 7:52 pm PT

    Iron Man, Iron Man does whatever a....
    Oh wait wrong song.

    This sounds neat, as long as I can fly, shoot lasers outta my hands, and wear 15 different armor suits I'm in! Except Iron Man betrayed Captain America, and you don't mess with Cap. Ever.

  • SecretWasianMan

    Posted Nov 6, 2006 7:51 pm PT

    Does anyone remember that really bad Iron Man game on the PS1? It was "Iron Man and Exo Manowar" or something. God that was bad. Is there ever gonna be a good Ironman game (Ultimate Alliance doesn't count, but he did kick a$$ in it.

  • Nintendus

    Posted Nov 6, 2006 6:29 pm PT

    Sega gave us crap with Sonic, I hope they don't ruin this game.....

  • wooooode

    Posted Nov 6, 2006 4:51 pm PT

    I hope this means we will get a good super hero game.

  • icym

    Posted Nov 6, 2006 4:24 pm PT

    Can't wait to see it. Iron Man's not a big name hero like Spiderman, so here's hoping to pushing up what some could say as the US's own mecha suit crazy inventions and cool weapons. This, I'm sure, will be a great game

  • GrimBee

    Posted Nov 6, 2006 4:20 pm PT

    iron man feature film? Woah... not another comic book attempt, im still waiting for fantastic 4 to lift off the ground (after the first one set it all up). Im getting tired of the spiderman movies (same kinds of characters, flat plot).

    At least movies like hellboy kind of put a bit of life into comic book re-makes. Like when the first Blade movie came out, I loved the way it made one story work for a movie...

    what Im saying is - If the movie sucks, I hope Sega make a great game their own way, and not like the lame attempts at creating movie/comic/game hybrids. Fantastic 4 game was abysmal, spiderman was better on the ps1, and lets forget about xmen for now... and hulk... and...

    lol

    If the movie sucks, sega wont have much left to do with the game rather than work of the movie. Sega should do what movies do with the comics. Instead of movies directly taking the exact thing from the comics, they mix things around a bit so it works as a movie.

    Sega should take the concepts from both the comic AND the movie, and create something quite brilliant which works as a GAME. Not something like "here is that scene in the movie, oh and you have a cannon to blow some stuff up with...".

    That would bore the pants off of me, I hope Sega concentrate on the gameplay and then merging in clever things from both the comics and the movie.

    If they dont, they should just make a game out of the iron giant movie (i liked that movie!)

  • Solidesnake2004

    Posted Nov 6, 2006 4:12 pm PT

    My Response: Better be good...Spiderman 2 had better replay value than the first one....and im still not finished with it.

  • rl_41

    Posted Nov 6, 2006 4:00 pm PT

    Iron man will make one of the best games ever.... I hope

  • tinaarmstrong

    Posted Nov 6, 2006 3:46 pm PT

    This team-up is going to be amazing, fantastic, uncanny, incredible, invincible, and mighty! I hope that SEGA puts their best minds behind it, because this game will rock!

  • thefjk

    Posted Nov 6, 2006 2:35 pm PT

    I dont like the fingures on the posters... they llook FAT!

  • comthitnuong

    Posted Nov 6, 2006 2:30 pm PT

    iron man...was he a real superhero?

  • crithon

    Posted Nov 6, 2006 2:09 pm PT

    hmmmmm Marvel without activision..... it's been a long time. And I'd have to say, they make a halfway decent product for the fans, but they haven't done anything really special. I hope the best for Sega, since Ironman is so underrater hero

  • doomsoth

    Posted Nov 6, 2006 1:33 pm PT

    Maybe?

  • MetroidBounty

    Posted Nov 6, 2006 1:27 pm PT

    It could be good

  • sinceps1

    Posted Nov 6, 2006 1:27 pm PT

    "Dolacide
    Most comics to movies to video games still aren't worth anything so I don't expect much."


    I agree. Game makers should go straight to the comic book for references. I prefer manga but what can you do.

  • robot_chicken32

    Posted Nov 6, 2006 1:26 pm PT

    Worth checking out

  • anjul

    Posted Nov 6, 2006 1:22 pm PT

    Iron Man ROCKS!!!!

  • kavadias1981

    Posted Nov 6, 2006 12:53 pm PT

    Lets just see if this becomes the first decent Marvel game.

  • gmsnpr

    Posted Nov 6, 2006 12:48 pm PT

    Defineitely looking forward to this, but isn't the Ghost Rider movie due soon? Maybe that's the other property.

  • CyphenX

    Posted Nov 6, 2006 12:37 pm PT

    w00t! Iron Man is awesome, and hopefully, his game will be too!

  • Mr_Saturn26

    Posted Nov 6, 2006 12:01 pm PT

    cool, i havent seen a iron man game in a while, and i wish i had a comic book store nearby.

  • diablobasher

    Posted Nov 6, 2006 11:41 am PT

    I am ironman! dunana nana nana, vote for me!

  • DiscGuru101

    Posted Nov 6, 2006 11:40 am PT

    After playing with such a huge collection of Marvel heroes... I dont see myself buying this game. -Maybe a superman or next gen spiderman game.

  • gintheplacetobe

    Posted Nov 6, 2006 11:22 am PT

    spidermanc2k wrote:
    "Woh would have thought that comic franchises would be playing such a large role in almost every entertainment medium these days. Exciting times." Well it's really the only way that companies like Marvel and DC are staying alive nowadays. I mean, with so many kids spending so much time watching TV and playing video games, none of them are really reading comic books any more.

  • neoand12

    Posted Nov 6, 2006 11:18 am PT

    Nice

  • spidermanc2k

    Posted Nov 6, 2006 11:16 am PT

    Woh would have thought that comic franchises would be playing such a large role in almost every entertainment medium these days. Exciting times.

  • Generic_Dude

    Posted Nov 6, 2006 11:05 am PT

    Black Sabbath references aside, I'm not really into comic stuff... but I'd love to wrangle me a game with hella robots and stuff.

  • Dolacide

    Posted Nov 6, 2006 10:55 am PT

    Most comics to movies to video games still aren't worth anything so I don't expect much.

  • TintedChimes

    Posted Nov 6, 2006 10:50 am PT

    I hope they make it like the cartoons in the 90s, those were weird, fun, annoying, and a joy. Please make him awesome with alcohol replenishing his system. How could would that be!

  • dukerav

    Posted Nov 6, 2006 10:47 am PT

    All I can say is that I hope both the movie and game turn out great.

  • szindragon

    Posted Nov 6, 2006 10:43 am PT

    All I know is, this game and the Iron Man movie better use the awesome theme from the 90's Cartoon show in the opening.

    I...AM....IRON MAN
    I...AM....IRON MAN

  • SouthpawSamurai

    Posted Nov 6, 2006 10:38 am PT

    So this means no Ironman in an Ultimate Alliance 2 game, eh? It was nice having access to just about everyone in the universe (except the Hulk and Punisher lost to other licensing deals). A shame to see it all fragment up again....

  • ebonyflame

    Posted Nov 6, 2006 10:36 am PT

    I think they should revive the old character War Machine.

  • ENERSTAR

    Posted Nov 6, 2006 10:35 am PT

    SEGA + MARVEL = NERD-GASM!!!

advertisement

Hot Stories

Newsmakers

Featured Stories

Submit News

Got tips? Send them in!

Related Game

Iron Man Boxshot
Iron Man

Game Stats

  • Rank:
    2,633 of 75,142
    (up by 353)
    X360 Rank:
    347 of 1,825
    Tracking:
    919 Track It»
    Wishlists:
    573 Wish It»
  • Users Now Playing:
    113
  • Number of Players:

    1 Player

  • Top 5 User Tags:
    1. iron man
    2. sega
    3. iron
    4. man
    5. marvel
  • Teen Rating Description

    Titles rated T (Teen) have content that may be suitable for ages 13 and older. Titles in this category may contain violence, suggestive themes, crude humor, minimal blood, simulated gambling, and/or infrequent use of strong language. Learn more

Full Game Details »Close
Also on

Recent News

See All News »

Site Blogs