Sony kicked off its long-awaited PlayStation 5 reveal event in suitably grand fashion yesterday by revealing Spider-Man: Miles Morales.
A surprise announcement in itself, no doubt, but perhaps even more shocking was the revelation that developer Insomniac plans to deliver the title this year. Considering that the original PS4 release, which stars Peter Parker as the central character, has yet to celebrate its second anniversary, such a swift turnaround time for a full-blown triple-A sequel is almost unheard of in the industry, so how has the studio managed to pull off such a feat? The simple answer: this isn’t a sequel – at least not in the traditional sense.
Speaking to The Telegraph in a post-show interview, Sony’s head of European Business, Simon Rutter, clarified to the site that Miles Morales’ upcoming adventure is an expansion of the original game, not a standalone release. Elaborating further, he says (H/T, VGC):
I guess you could call it an expansion and an enhancement to the previous game. There’s a substantial Miles Morales component – which is the expansion element – but also within the game as well there’s been major enhancements to the game and the game engine, obviously deploying some of the major PlayStation 5 technology and features.
Outstanding news for those who have yet to experience one of PlayStation 4’s most accomplished exclusives, then, though it remains to be seen how Sony intends to handle marketing the add-on to fans who have already seen everything there is to offer in Parker’s main campaign. We already know, of course, that PlayStation 5 will feature backwards compatibility, but we’ve yet to learn if owners of the PS4 version will be able to pick up this year’s enhancement free of charge or, as many fear, that full price will be required in order to experience not just the aforementioned improvements, but Miles’ quest, too.
While we await clarification on that front, be sure to share with us your first impressions of Spider-Man: Miles Morales in the usual place below!