Games change direction all the time. This includes plans for components that eventually get cut, modes that never see the light of day, or in extreme cases entire games are shifted to other concepts. In the case of the upcoming Marvel’s Guardians of The Galaxy, it would seem that the game had originally planned to have some multiplayer component.
Previously Jason Schreier had spoken about this on Twitter, stating that the game was planned to always be a single-player game, even before the release of Marvel’s Avengers. This is most likely true as well, with the multiplayer being planned as a mode and not a full live service component.
If you're curious, Guardians of the Galaxy was actually a single-player game way before the launch of Avengers. This isn't a reaction to that game flopping. (Looks great, too)
— Jason Schreier (@jasonschreier) June 13, 2021
According to the Linkin Profile of Simon Larouche, who now works for Guerilla Games, he had previously been working on a canceled multiplayer feature for the game. He departed in 2018 from Eidos Montreal so it might have been canceled prior to that. There is also the possibility it was canceled after this point.
Despite knowing it was canceled, we know very little else about it. As it stands now, the player controls only the character of Star-Lord with other characters acting on their own. The man story will also have choices the player can make as him that will affect his crew. It is possible that the multiplayer was a form of co-op with the GoTG crew that was dropped in favor of these RPG elements.
The game also could have lent itself well to other concepts such as hoard modes where each character was playable with friends, or specific co-op missions. The game will have no microtransactions and or DLC for it, save for a few costumes coming with the deluxe edition.
Marvel’s Guardians of The Galaxy will arrive October 26, 2021, for Windows, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.
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