TITLE
Superman Returns: What went wrong
AUTHOR
Matt Paprocki
PUBLICATION
Polygon
YEAR
2017
ARTICLE TYPE
Article
FROM THE ARTICLE
Three years after Grand Theft Auto 3 defined the modern open-world action game, EA Tiburon — better known as the team behind Madden NFL — set out to try its own take on the genre. The target: a free roaming superhero simulator based on Bryan Singer’s blockbuster movie, “Superman Returns.” Many had high hopes.Tiburon’s earliest work, in July of 2004, came in the form of a flying demo and concept art. “They had some really beautiful concept art and previs videos, all sorts of amazing cool stuff we looked at and went wow, that’s a lot to live up to,” says Anthony Marinello, one of the first software engineers Tiburon brought onto the project.
“I still remember watching that demo with Superman flying. It really captured that feeling of Superman … flying in games had never really been fun and this looked really great,” says Dana Kurtin, responsible for the DC’s brand strategy at the time.
DC then gave its approval. When presented the same demo and art, film director Bryan Singer (handling Australian preproduction at the time) signed off as well.
With plans to make the game for Microsoft’s Xbox 360 and the console launch looming, Tiburon readied its team. In the years that followed, things got a little messy.
COMPANIES MENTIONED
EA Tiburon
GAMES MENTIONED
Superman Returns