Insomniac Games, Sony Interactive Entertainment, and Marvel Games entered discussions about developing further games centered on Marvel characters beyond Spider-Man during the development of Marvel's Spider-Man (2018), with Insomniac expressing interest in adapting Wolverine. Marvel's Wolverine was officially announced in September 2021, alongside the involvement of creative director Brian Horton and game director Cameron Christian. The game is written by Mary Kenney, Walt Williams, Nick Folkman, and Joe Halstead.
Marvel's Wolverine was among the major subjects of a targeted ransomware attack on Insomniac Games in December 2023, in which various development assets showcasing gameplay and story elements briefly became publicly accessible. Horton and Christian were replaced by Marcus Smith and Mike Daly in their respective roles by October 2024. The game is scheduled to release for the PlayStation 5 in late 2026.
Characters and setting
Marvel's Wolverine features an ensemble cast drawn from the comic book mythology of the character, the wider X-Men mythos, and various adaptations in other media. The game follows James "Logan" Howlett / Wolverine (Liam McIntyre), a centuries-old mutant with retractable claws, heightened animalistic instincts and a pronounced healing factor, who is grafted with an indestructible adamantium alloy in his skeleton following intense experimentation.[1] Other characters that appear in the game include Mystique and Omega Red.[2][3]
Development
During the development of Marvel's Spider-Man (2018), developer Insomniac Games, Marvel Games and publisher Sony Interactive Entertainment discussed prospects for future games based on Marvel Comics properties beyond Spider-Man, with the team at Insomniac continually suggesting their desire to work on a game featuring Wolverine. The development team were drawn to the character through the similar moral compass he shares with Spider-Man, notably the fact that "both heroes feel deeply compelled to defend people who are less able to do so". Insomniac eventually elected to pitch this idea to both Marvel and Sony as their next licensed property following their successful collaboration with the two parties on developing Marvel's Spider-Man.[4]
Marvel's Wolverine was officially announced alongside Marvel's Spider-Man 2 (2023) by Insomniac Games, during the PlayStation Showcase event in September 2021. The developers confirmed shortly thereafter that the standalone game shares continuity with the Marvel's Spider-Man games.[5][6] Brian Horton and Cameron Christian were announced as the game's creative and game directors, respectively, reprising their roles from Marvel's Spider-Man: Miles Morales (2020),[6] with Horton describing the game as "full size, mature tone" in contrast to Miles Morales.[7] Mary Kenney served as the game's writer with Spec Ops: The Line (2012) writer Walt Williams.[8][9]Motion capture preparation had begun by April 2022,[10] when lead animator Mike Yosh posted a photo of a motion capture soundstage on Twitter. In June 2023, Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart (2021) co-writer Nick Folkman revealed on Twitter that he had been simultaneously involved as a writer on both Marvel's Spider-Man 2 and Marvel's Wolverine, and that he would be completely focused on the latter now that his work on the former game had been completed.[11]Marvel's Spider-Man 2 creative director Bryan Intihar reconfirmed the game's shared continuity to the studio's Spider-Man games in October 2023, saying "they're all [Earth-]1048".[12]
In September 2024, Insomniac Games's core technology director Mike Fitzgerald confirmed that Marvel's Wolverine would support enhancements made by the PlayStation 5 Pro as they were being implemented into their existing games for the console.[13] Over the summer, Brian Horton left his role as creative director on the game to join The Initiative at Xbox Game Studios, briefly assuming the role of creative director on the Perfect Dark reboot prior to its cancellation and the studio's simultaneous closure in July 2025.[14] Marcus Smith took over Horton's role, while Mike Daly replaced Christian as game director. The duo previously collaborated on Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart (2021).[15] The game's cover art, which was revealed during a September 2025 State of Play, was designed in collaboration with comic artist Jock.[16]
2023 Rhysida hack
In December 2023, Insomniac Games was targeted in a ransomware attack that compromised various development documents and personal employee information. Among the surfaced materials, early in-game images and concept art featuring other characters were leaked online.[17] The hackers, Rhysida, threatened to publish all procured images and resources obtained from the hack within seven days and they held an auction for the data with a starting price at 50 bitcoin (then-equivalent to US$2million). Sony Interactive Entertainment (SIE) stated that they intended to investigate but did not anticipate the incident to affect other divisions of SIE or Sony as a whole.[18] After Rhysida's deadline, company information, including employee data, model dumps and pre-production slates for various games in development, were published online. These materials included various production assets related to Marvel's Wolverine, such as vertical gameplay slices, animation and model tests, concept art, finalized plot and character details, as well as personal information concerning in-house staff and contract workers involved in the game's development, including the unintended reveal of the game's voice cast.[19][20]
In the hours following the leak, early playable builds of the game were similarly circulated online and made accessible by dataminers. SIE responded by issuing DMCA takedown notices through internet service providers against those who attempted to download the files.[21] Insomniac Games issued a statement addressing the hack three days later, stating that the events took an "extremely distressing" emotional toll on the development teams involved in their upcoming projects, but that the data breach would not impact their development plans, including production on Marvel's Wolverine. They also thanked their fans and the wider gaming community for "the outpouring of compassion and unwavering support", affirming to share more details regarding the game when the timing was right.[22] The events of the hack and its consequences for the developer were met with widespread sympathy throughout the video game industry.[23]
Release
On September 24, 2025, during the State of Play, Sony announced that Marvel's Wolverine is set for release on PlayStation 5 in late 2026.[2]
Future
The ransomware attack on Insomniac Games in December 2023 revealed that the studio was developing several new Marvel video games, all in various stages of development. Marvel's Wolverine is planned as the first in a trilogy focused on the X-Men, similar to the Marvel's Spider-Man series. The hack also confirmed a new licensing deal between Insomniac Games, Sony Interactive Entertainment, and Marvel. Under this agreement, Insomniac will work with Marvel to produce X-Men video games. The deal includes restrictions: while X-Men characters can appear in other Marvel games, Marvel cannot announce any new X-Men games from other publishers for consoles, PC, or cloud streaming during the agreement. Additionally, other first-party platforms, like Xbox and Nintendo, cannot use X-Men-affiliated characters or elements as competitive advantages against PlayStation consoles for multiplatform Marvel games.[24][25]
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