disney just released its Disney and Marvel games showcase, providing fans with information about games related to tons of different products under the company’s umbrella, but its pace was offbeat, unlike long-running game showcases like Nintendo Direct. The content of the show was very varied, ranging from new upcoming features to Disney Valley of Dreams to all-new tracks, including Tron: Identity and Disney’s Island of Illusions. Some great titles like Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 might not be there, but he still had a lot to offer. Still, the Disney and Marvel games showcase suffered slightly in the way its information was presented.
The Disney and Marvel games showcase was only about 23 minutes long, but it had plenty of announcements, updates, and images around the time. Disney fans may have enjoyed seeing so much coverage in such a short time, but in the end, it probably wasn’t the best way to showcase so much content, as it didn’t leave time for everyone. Disney’s video game plans to shine; instead, only a handful of games had a chance to stand out. The next showcase of Disney and Marvel games must mimic Nintendo Directs, State of Plays and other frequent game presentations by allowing every game room to breathe in some way.
Disney needs more rhythmic presentations
Some games like Marvel’s Midnight Suns and Avatar: Grateful got a reasonable amount of time at the presentation, spending a few minutes teasing images or discussing features. Others, however, were not so lucky. The presentation sometimes only spent a few seconds to cover an announcement, like the fleeting reveal that a classic Gargoyles the video game was getting a remaster. In the same way, Avatar: Pandora’s Frontiers only had a brief preview before the show went to a Lego Star Wars announcement much less than a minute later. Overall, the storefront moved a little too fast for Disney fans to really appreciate what the company had to offer.
The next Disney and Marvel team must study the giants of the video game industry. While not all games on a Nintendo Direct or PlayStation State of Play get the same amount of time, these shows typically devote at least a few minutes to all featured games, revealing full trailers, providing breakdowns game, etc. Because these shows take their time, fans can get a better feel for the games being revealed and find more reasons to tie themselves to an upcoming project. Moving at a steady pace makes it easier to sell viewers on a game.
Ideally, the next Disney and Marvel games showcase will either reduce the number of games it covers or be longer overall so that it can take more time with each game. Either approach would allow Disney to emphasize more selling points for its projects, show off more gameplay, and generally give fans a clearer idea of what it’s planning. Major titles like Avatar: Pandora’s Frontiers deserve more than a half step into the spotlight, so Disney’s next presentation needs to be built with better pacing in mind.
To its credit, Disney at least seemed to learn one important lesson from the work of Nintendo and PlayStation: it closed the show on a high. “One More Thing” from Disney and Marvel was Skydance’s Marvel game, which has long been rumored and discussed. It’s now been confirmed that Skydance will tell a story about Black Panther, Captain America, Gabriel Jones, and Nanali during World War II, which seems like a big chance for pacing for Marvel’s current play cycle. However, as solid as this tie-up is, Disney should make sure to give Skydance’s game proper viewing time in the upcoming showcase. For fans to truly appreciate his work, disney and Marvel shows need room to breathe.