Following the aftermath of the disastrous Insomniac Games hack a few months ago, whispers began to merge into something tangible, something nearly within our grasp, only to vanish like smoke. The leak brought to light what could have been if Spider-Man: The Great Web, a multiplayer adventure weaving together the fates of multiple Spider-People, had come to fruition.
Though it has since been canceled (not by villainy but by the cold, hard logic of business decisions – which, to be fair, can sometimes be hard to distinguish), fans have gotten a look into what the gameplay might have looked like.
The leak, credited to the hacker group Rhysida, exposed more than just files from the Sony-owned studio. Among the data was a trailer for a Spider-Man multiplayer title that one could easily mistake for a launch announcement. The canceled game trailer reveals a portal to a spiderverse of possibilities, showcasing cooperative play that stretches the fabric of the Spider-Verse itself.
Up to five players – weird number – could swing through New York City, wearing the suits of not just Peter Parker but also Spider-Gwen, Spider-Man 2099, and even Venom’s Symbiote costume. The game’s narrative sees Scarlet Witch tear open the multiverse, unleashing all kinds of threats, including the Sinister Six, upon our heroes.
Sadly, for all its promise, Spider-Man: The Great Web was ensnared in the realities of game development and market strategy. Ironically, this isn’t the first time we’ve seen such a promising game come to nothing. 10 years ago, something similar occurred when Kojima Productions gave us one of the best game teasers in years, only for Konami to pull the rug out from under us.
We’re talking about the legendary psychological horror game P.T., the playable teaser for the ill-fated Silent Hills. P.T. was developed as a cryptic anomaly, a masterstroke of marketing and game design cloaked in mystery. The reveal of what P.T. actually was shocked and excited gamers who played it once they realized that it was a teaser for Silent Hills.
The mere fact that it was a collaboration of Hideo Kojima, Guillermo del Toro, and Norman Reedus, with later involvement from horror maestro Junji Ito, was enough to send the internet into a frenzy. Even to this day, P.T. is viewed as a slice of terror so potent that it’s still revered as the pinnacle of horror gaming.
Unfortunately, like The Great Web, P.T. was doomed to be nothing more than a what-if, a casualty of corporate upheaval and a very public dissolution of the partnership between Kojima and Konami. Not only did the game it teased never release, the teaser itself was eradicated from any official source.
Both projects showcased the heights of creativity possible when industry innovators are given the reins. The Great Web teased a multiplayer marvel, a convergence of multiple fan-favorite Spider-Man characters set in Insomniac’s Spider-Man universe, much as P.T. teased a rebirth of the Silent Hill franchise with a slew of the best horror directors at its helm.
The manner in which both games were unveiled and their subsequent cancellation speak volumes about the contemporary gaming landscape. Both projects were victims of their circumstances, cut down not by a lack of interest or potential but by decisions made in boardrooms far removed from the developers and players.
P.T. became a phantom, its legacy living on in the abyss of what-ifs and tributes from the horror gaming community. Spider-Man: The Great Web, similarly, now exists as a shadow, a glimpse into a multiplayer experience that promised to bring fans together in a way never before seen in Insomniac’s Spider-Verse.
What’s even more depressing is the fact that this will not be the last time it happens. Many more great ideas will not see the light of day, and we as gamers will just have to accept that harsh reality.
