Marvel Contest of Champions has allowed players to put their superheroic fists to opponents' faces for more than 10 years on mobile devices. On June 18, a new era for the game began with a launch on Steam. I had the opportunity to speak with Charles Busch, Senior Producer at Kabam Games, and Principal Creative Writer Tyler Nicol about this exciting new time for the popular fighting game.
Busch explained that bringing an already successful game to a new platform makes all the game's versions stronger.
"A growing trend you’re seeing in the industry is more mobile
games coming to PC," Busch said. "And there are good reasons for this. It can help you attract new players you wouldn't have been able to reach otherwise. It can allow your existing players to play in new ways they couldn't before (whether that's controls or multi-tasking).
And it can let you push the envelope more in certain ways when you're not as hardware-constrained. The effort we put into making the PC version has helped us make the whole game better."
For decades, the mighty heroes of Marvel Comics have reached new legions of adoring fans through books, Saturday morning cartoons, movies, and now video games. The nerd world is eagerly anticipating the July 25 release of Fantastic Four: First Steps. Contest of Champions is rolling out four months of events based on the adventures of Marvel Comics' First Family. It's a labor of love for Tyler Nicol, Senior Creative Writer on Contest of Champions.
"Reed, Sue, Johnny, Thing, and H.E.R.B.I.E. bring so much along with them." Nicol said. "My desk is always covered by comics both new and old, and it's astonishing to see how much the characters have evolved from their 1960s origins to today. They are such a core part of Marvel lore and history that it made it easy to create four months of events with our Fantastic Force saga this year."
The original Contest of Champions storyline took place in 1982 and still resonates today. But Kabam is not just a steward of the Marvel culture that came before them. Working in conjunction with Marvel, they've created brand new characters to drive this latest incarnation of Contest of Champions' story.
Busch said the process is a collaborative one, working back and forth on story, abilities, and concept art until they have a character that everybody is happy with.
One of these characters is Civil Warrior, a version of Captain America from a universe in which the superhero Civil War never ended. Tony Stark didn't survive their battle on that world, so a Steve Rogers consumed by guilt adopts a costume based on an Iron Man armor design.
Nicol believes the partnership works so well because all parties involved have a deep love for this comic lore and want to create characters that add something special.
"When we bring something new to the Marvel universe it comes not just from a place of passion, but also nerdy joy," Nicol said. "I am certain our partners at Marvel can feel that with every pitch as we don't just want to add something new, we want to help expand the endless story itself.
This year, we'll have four totally new characters with the Eidols arriving to the Contest of Champions and endless hours have gone into crafting something unique that somehow still feels natural crossing paths with the gods, mutants, monsters. tech-geniuses, and super soldiers of Marvel."
Contest of Champions is available on Android, iOS and yes, on Steam so you can build the superhero squad of your dreams to save all realities.