We Couldn't Find a Single New Copy of Marvel's Spider-Man in Akihabara in its Second Weekend

Marvel's Spider-Man is doing very well in Japan. DualShockers verified its availability in Akihabara on the game's second weekend on the local shelves.

[ArchangelMike]

I'm sure Sony and Marvel Games will be extremely pleased with Spiderman. I think it's safe to say we'll see a sequel to the game; the only question is if it'll be a PS4 or PS5 game (or maybe even both), and if it'll come out on more platforms in the future. Although I'm pretty sure Sony won't want to let it go, not without a fight any way.

[Abriael]

Didn't they already say that the future of the franchise is on Sony's consoles?

[CarlDechance]

Yes, said that a couple of years ago

[sampsonon]

couple of reasons
1. sony owns the movie rights to SM and Marvel wants to keep him in the MCU. kinda of like "I scratch your back you scratch mine" kind of deal.
2. sony knows how to get games made and has a huge player base.

matter o fact i can see marvel working exclusively with sony for the whole MCU because of sony's track record when it comes to in house dev companies and it's ability to produce great AAA games.
MS thinks that the future of gaming is online MP and their games haven't really been selling so great this gen. also after the battlefront MT issue i think Disney and Marvel wants to stay away from that beast.

[UltraNova]

Samspsonon,

While that might be true about the SM license it doesn't mean Marvel will give the rights of other characters to Sony simply because they are after the big big bucks. The have already given the Avengers IP to SE for at least one game.

Marvel needs to break records with everything they make and remaining platform exclusive will absolutly not allow them to do so.

That said, I can see them choosing the best dev to develop each of their IPs based on their movies timeframe (to piggy back on the hype) and making them multiplatform releases to maximize profits.

Now bring on the 1st day/week numbers for SM already!!

[CarlDechance]

"Marvel needs to break records with everything they make and remaining platform exclusive will absolutly not allow them to do so. "

Being multiplat sure hasn't done that for Marvel previously. I wouldn't be surprised if Spider-man does break some records though.

[UltraNova]

Car,

No, the deal with Activision(for Spiderman games) pre-dates the MCU and their quality mega-blockbuster directive. Now they have some control - through their deal with Sony - they partnered with them to develop a AAA quality SM game. Now they will let devs propose their plan for any Marvel game project and pick the one they like most. In this case Spiderman- Insomniac- Sony made pefect sense considering they needed a risk free debut in the gaming industry. This is a strategy they'll surely adhere to going forward even if it means exclusive or multiplatform.

That said their deal worked and it was a tremendous success, effectively guaranteeing a PS exclusive SM sequel, that doesn't mean other characters will be exclusive though.

[Legatus]

http://www.playstationlifes...

From the article:
"We’ve had a long history of success with Activision, and we still have a great relationship with them. But the future of the Spider-Man console games is with Sony and Insomniac. We’re delighted about this partnership, and that’s something that’s going to continue forward."

There's no "if" the new Spider-man will be a Playstation exclusive, especially now that the first game from this new partership is super successful, both critics wise and sales wise.

[Sunny_D]

Sony looks to be the main publisher for Spider-Man games from here on out. Now if this current Spider-Man universe ends and they’ve wantto reboot the game series again, will that be up to Sony?

[ArchangelMike]

WOw, I missed that article. Well there it is then! I look forward to teh sequel. I guess that's why Marvel gave Avengers to SqEnix, so that they could have a multiplat AAA Marvel IP out there as well. The bar has been set really high though.

[LucasRuinedChildhood]

@ArchangelMike Crystal Dynamics are always having to compete with and measure up to Sony products. It's probably starting to piss them off at this stage.

[rainslacker]

I have a feeling that Sony has a multi-year or multi-game contract for the franchise. That is pretty typical for a licensed property. Kind of like how EA has the Star Wars franchise for an undisclosed period of time.

Of course, there is likely a clause in there that allows the franchise to be pulled from them with appropriate compensation, but if the games do this well, and make this much money, and the companies take as much care with the franchise as they are, then I don't see any reason for that to happen.

[Ceaser9857361]

The sequel will be a PS 5 game and Marvel already said Spiderman future is in safe hands with Sony and Insomniac . So ya it will be exclusives and we probably will get a trilogy ...

[chrish1990]

https://www.yodobashi.com/?...

Should have looked a little harder. the biggest game store in Tokyo, Yodobashi-akiba, currently has it listed as in-stock on its website, and a quick phone call with some very bad English confirms they're on the store shelves.

[Abriael]

Nice try, but you should have researched a little harder.

The pictures here show exactly the store you mention (Yodobashi Akiba), with big "sold out" stickers. Asking the clerks on site of course confirmed it,

https://cdn3.dualshockers.c...
https://cdn3.dualshockers.c...

The article was posted yesterday and specifically talked about the weekend. You checked today, which is Monday. You do know that stores receive shipments in Japan (or everywhere) right? Games don't remain sold out forever unless they go out of print.

It's pretty funny that you think you know better than someone who is there.

[paintedgamer1984]

Im pretty confident the next Spider-Man will be PS5 exclusive... They are probably already in the early stages of developement. Didnt they say it took 4-5 years dev cycle? So at the earliest fall 2022. Unless they can pump it out in 3 years, which is possible with newer, easier to dev for hardware, and a bigger staff at Insomniac.

[sprinterboy]

Absolutely loved the game, but I'm a 1 playthrough kinda guy these days with work commitments and life, but I got my copy of spiderman for £46 got the plat trophy over the wkd and sold it for £40 at CEX, absolute bargain of a gem of a game for £6. Happy days 😊

[sprinterboy]

How can I get dislikes for telling my story. No wonder people over spend and get themselves in debt.
People have no money sense or logic. I could have kept spidy and not replayed it for a month or 2 or use some intelligence and take advantage of the trade in price, which in turn allowed me to purchase a second game tomb raider, so 2 new games for the price of one. How does one get disagrees for that lol.

[mkis007]

I didn't disagree, but my response to you is: who careswhy someone pressed a button!!! They are meaningless and have no effect on anything.

I never get why people make comments about their downvotes.

[Gatsu]

It's N4G, that's how I guess... People dislike here for no reason at all.

[Kiwi66]

Why would there be pre-owned copies already ?

[sprinterboy]

Did you read my comment above. I got to play spidy for £6, I then bought a new copy of tr so basically 2 games for the price of 1 give or take a fiver. I'll rebuy spidy nxt yr sometime digital on psn sale for the dlc.

[Kiwi66]

Yes I did but I'm just surprised that a game this good is already seeing used copies only a few weeks after release

[sprinterboy]

Not everybody replays games dude, even the really good ones, gamers ages can be factors, or maybe there just one playthrough kinda gamers or maybe offers like my story persuades people, who doesn't want 2 new released games for the price of 1, I've just saved myself £40. Thx for the dislike btw

[Kiwi66]

I didn't dislike your comment so don't make accusations without proof

[Abriael]

Akihabara has a MASSIVE pre-owned culture, from games to manga, anime, music CDs, DVDs, and even figures and electronics. Even PC Games, which in the west is pretty much unheard of (and by PC games, I mean THAT kind of PC games, because that's what most PC games are in Japan).

Trader (as the name implies), has two massive shops entirely dedicated to buying and selling pre-owned stuff, and then there's Mandarake and many more. There are plenty of stores that have a whole floor dedicated to buying back your stuff.

You can find pretty much everything pre-owned, and people easily play a game in a week and then drop it back at the shop to buy a new one. Tokyo is a big city, and you're sure to find a few people like that even after just 9 days of a game's release, not to mention the fact that there are probably some people who simply bought the game and didn't like it (no game is universal), and some who may have found themselves in sudden need of cash.

There were pre-owned copies of Dragon Quest XI less than a week after, for instance. Finding pre-owned Switch units was also fairly easy all the way through the initial shortage.

[Profchaos]

I guess the thing with a sequal would be how can you make new York feel fresh and exciting again. Aside from a generational leap in not sure.

Personally as long as the story is good I'll be happy.

But also marvel gave insomniac the choice to pick any hero so who knows the next game could be a different city maybe iron Man in Los Angeles or somthing

[chris235]

physical copies are over and out

[Nyxus]

Not true at all.

[BlaqMagiq1]

Anyone who thinks this is an idiot

[andibandit]

Good to know, that question has grating on my nerves for a week now.

[quiddd]

I guess people were OK with Spider-Man's out of touch take on police.