Insomniac Games appears poised to expand its Marvel universe with an X-Men game featuring multiple playable characters, even as Marvel’s Wolverine faces criticism and trails the launch sales of its biggest superhero hits.
For disappointed players, the prospect may look like another case of failing forward: a divisive adaptation becomes the stepping stone to an even larger property. While Wolverine led September’s U.S. sales chart by revenue, worldwide estimates suggest a more modest debut than its Spider-Man predecessors and raise questions about sustained demand after launch.
Job Listing Points To Multiple Playable Heroes
According to Insider Gaming, new Insomniac job listings suggest an upcoming project will feature multiple playable characters. The outlet connects those positions to the X-Men game identified in the studio’s 2023 leaks, which indicated a potential 2030 release window.
(L-R): Roberto Da Costa (voiced by Gui Agustini), Jubilee (voiced by Holly Chou), Gambit (voiced by AJ LoCascio), Cyclops (voiced by Ray Chase), Wolverine (voiced by Cal Dodd), Bishop (voiced by Isaac Robinson-Smith), Morph (voiced by JP Karliak), and Beast (voiced by George Buza) in Marvel Studios‘ X-MEN ’97. Photo courtesy of Marvel Studios. © 2024 MARVEL.
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The clearest evidence comes from a Staff Hero Designer listing, which assigns responsibility for “one or more playable characters.” Its duties cover combat, traversal, abilities, progression, and other character systems.
That would fit a property like X-Men, where distinct mutant powers could support substantially different play styles. However, the listing does not identify the project, and Insider Gaming acknowledges that it could concern another title.
Multiple playable heroes therefore remain a possibility for Insomniac’s X-Men project, rather than a confirmed feature. The listing also does not establish a roster, cooperative multiplayer, or a release date.
Wolverine’s Problems Extend Beyond Online Mockery
The prospect of a larger mutant franchise follows criticism of Wolverine’s design and storytelling.
Geeks + Gamers highlighted complaints about bugs, restrictive gameplay, excessive guidance, and character designs. Those concerns extend beyond disagreement over the game’s narrative choices.
Alinea Analytics’ Rhys Elliott also criticized its handholding, linearity, and uneven design, while acknowledging strengths in its characters and combat animations. His assessment described a game whose execution did little to advance its genre.
Wolverine and Sabretooth in Marvel’s Wolverine – Insomniac
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The storytelling attracted its own scrutiny. Insomniac narrative director Walt Williams described Logan and Sabretooth’s relationship through emotional attachment and shared pain, an approach that raised questions about the studio’s interpretation of their rivalry.
“Logan feels that yearning and he gets scared and pulls away,” Williams told The Washington Post.
Williams did not explicitly characterize their bond as romantic. Nevertheless, the framing invites scrutiny over whether it deepens their psychological conflict or softens the distinction between Logan’s struggle for humanity and Creed’s embrace of violence.
How Wolverine’s Launch Sales Compare
Despite those complaints, Wolverine topped September’s U.S. sales chart by dollar revenue. According to Circana’s findings reported by VGC, it also generated Sony’s strongest launch-month dollar sales since Helldivers II in February 2024. That demonstrates demand, although a monthly ranking does not establish profitability.
Worldwide launch figures offer a less impressive comparison with Insomniac’s biggest Marvel releases:
- Marvel’s Wolverine: Alinea estimated 1.9 million copies sold in its first three days. Separately, Ampere estimated 2.16 million during September.
- Marvel’s Spider-Man: Sony disclosed 3.3 million copies sold in three days, putting Wolverine’s estimated opening approximately 42% lower.
- Marvel’s Spider-Man 2: Sony’s same disclosure reported 5 million copies sold in 11 days, more than twice Wolverine’s estimated September total.
- Spider-Man: Miles Morales: Sony reported 4.1 million copies through December 31, 2020, approximately 50 days after launch. That longer period and availability on both PS4 and PS5 make it a less direct comparison.
These are launch-window comparisons rather than matching first-month totals. The Spider-Man figures also come from Sony disclosures, while Wolverine’s totals are independent analyst estimates.
Preorders Complicate The Opening Numbers
There is another important qualification: Alinea’s 1.9 million opening estimate included 1 million digital preorders. Those accumulated advance purchases accounted for approximately 53% of its first three days’ sales.
Taken at face value, the Alinea and Ampere estimates would imply approximately 260,000 additional copies sold after the opening three days. That would place roughly 88% of September’s sales in the initial launch total, including preorders.
However, the estimates come from different firms and cannot reliably be treated as successive updates to the same sales tally. The apparent gap suggests a heavily front-loaded release, but it does not establish the precise decline—or demonstrate that poor word of mouth caused it.
Wolverine in Marvel’s Wolverine – Insomniac
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Even with that qualification, Wolverine’s estimated launch remains well behind the early milestones of Insomniac’s two main Spider-Man games. Leading a monthly chart does not erase that gap.
Insomniac’s X-Men plans also predate Wolverine’s reception, so their continuation does not demonstrate that Sony rewarded a commercial failure. Still, expanding to a larger mutant property leaves the studio facing a creative test: whether it can address the shortcomings players identified before extending its approach across an entire team.
Do you trust Insomniac with the X-Men after Marvel’s Wolverine? Sound off and let us know!
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