Image credits go to Gazillion Entertainment.
You’d be hard-pressed to argue that Marvel isn’t making enormous headway into just about every form of creative media these days. Whether it’s through movies, TV shows, video games, or its traditional comic book format, Disney’s Marvel shows no signs of slowing down when it comes to reaching mass audiences. Even more niche genres of gaming – like the Isometric Action RPG – are touched by its influence; in this case, the genre has even been somewhat revived by Marvel.
And that’s largely thanks to Gazillion Entertainment’s hyper-popular MMO-ARPG, Marvel Heroes 2016. Two days ago, Gazillion announced that they have teamed up with Taiwanese cloud-streaming company, Ubitus Inc., to bring Marvel Heroes 2016 to South Korea and Japan this summer, with Greater China and other regions soon to follow.
According to an official press release by Ubitus, the two companies will begin their heroic conquest in Korea, then move onto other regions within East Asia. Though Marvel Heroes 2016 is currently only playable on Windows systems, the game will also be making its way to Mac, tablet, smart TV and IPTV set-top box platforms.
Gazillion CEO Dave Dohrmann (who has replaced former CEO David Brevik after the latter stepped down this January to form his own company, Graybeard Games) has stated that “Marvel itself has done an excellent job of further popularizing its iconic characters in Asian territories, and now is the perfect time to bring the ultimate game set in the Marvel Universe to those regions.” Dohrmann is excited to welcome “millions” of new players to the world of Marvel Heroes 2016, which is expected to garner a “Hulk-sized reception,” according to Ubitus CEO Wesley Kuo.
Given China, Korea and Japan’s penchants for MMORPGs and Marvel, “Hulk-sized” may even be an understatement. As an example, Activision Blizzard’s Diablo 3 currently ranks among the top 3 most popular online games in South Korea. Given Marvel Heroes 2016’s resemblance to the Diablo series (Brevik, after all, was one of Diablo‘s creators), it’s entirely reasonable to expect that Marvel Heroes 2016 will see nothing short of a cosmic reception come launch.
In an interview with Venturebeat, Ubitus also stated that this new era of Marvel Heroes 2016 will also employ the company’s own Instaplay service. This service, which is made possible through cloud computing, is intended to keep interested players hooked by allowing them to play the game while the rest of it downloads in the background.
If you’d like to learn more about Gazillion and Marvel Heroes 2016, you can do so on their official website. Stay tuned for more updates on the game’s arrival in South Korea and beyond.