The recently announced Black Panther game in development at EA may be open world, judging from a new job listing posted for the title. Given the amount of open world fatigue some gamers have experienced in recent years, this aspect of Black Panther could prove divisive if done poorly.

EA's untitled Black Panther game, which is currently being developed at the newly-created Seattle-based studio Cliffhanger Games, was formally announced in July 2023. The quiet reveal of the title was met with little fanfare, in large part because EA did not reveal any real specifics about the game itself. In addition, the studio making it is currently unproven, although there is some former talent from Shadow of Mordor developer Monolith Productions working at Cliffhanger Games. Nonetheless, fans have been hoping to get some sort of update on this upcoming Black Panther game ever since its announcement. Though this latest tidbit of info may not be the information blowout that some may have been hoping for, it does at least give an insight into what fans might expect going into this Black Panther video game.

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EA’s Black Panther is the Biggest Unknown of All Upcoming Marvel Games

EA's Black Panther game is in an odd situation right now where nothing can be presumed about it or new studio Cliffhanger Games until more is shared.

According to a job listing posted on EA's official website, Cliffhanger Games is currently searching for a Principal Sandbox Designer who "will be instrumental in designing and populating encounters, systems, and gameplay within a dynamic and evolving open world." Unless Cliffhanger Games is working on another unannounced title alongside this one, which is unlikely, this seems to suggest that its upcoming superhero game will forgo a linear structure in favor of a fully realized open world. This listing seems to further verify a report from insider Jeff Grubb in 2022, who claimed that EA's Black Panther game would be open world before the title was even officially announced.

There Are Plenty of Open World Superhero Games

Open-world superhero games are by no means a new concept, given that titles like Spider-Man 2, Gotham Knights, Suicide Squad: Kill The Justice League, and Batman: Arkham City fall under this description. However, the way in which these open worlds have been implemented into gameplay loops has been met with mixed results. Titles like Insomniac's Spider-Man games and the latter two games in Rocksteady's Arkham trilogy were praised by critics for their implementation of immersive open worlds. Suicide Squad and Gotham Knights, on the other hand, were lambasted for having generic open worlds filled with artificial padding and by-the-numbers activities. Because of this, if the Black Panther game is truly going down the open world route, fans will likely demand that the game have quality, diverse content that justifies exploration in its rendition of a region like Wakanda. Otherwise, it could risk falling into the trappings of the Ubisoft-style formula that some gamers have criticized in recent years.

This upcoming Black Panther game is not the only EA Marvel game in development, as the publisher has confirmed that it's working on two other superhero games as well, including one for Iron Man. These games do come at an interesting time for EA, though, as CEO Andrew Wilson recently confirmed that the company was pivoting away from licensed IPs after laying off 670 employees. This potentially means games like Black Panther may not be followed up with sequels. Even still, many fans will likely be anticipating Cliffhanger's upcoming title with great interest.