EA starts new AAA studio Cliffhanger Games to develop Black Panther game

Electronic Arts has unveiled a new in-house studio Cliffhanger Games. The Seattle-based team is now working on a AAA game based on the Black Panther IP.

Cliffhanger Games was announced on July 10, commemorating the 57th anniversary of Black Panther’s comic debut.

The studio’s upcoming project is described as an “original, third-person, single-player Black Panther game” made in partnership with Marvel Games.

The Seattle-based team is led by general manager Kevin Stephens, former VP and studio head at Monolith Productions. He is best known for his work on Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor and Shadow of War, as well as F.E.A.R. (as director of technology) and the Condemned series.

Other team members include veterans of franchises like Halo, God of War, and Call of Duty.

“We’re dedicated to delivering fans a definitive and authentic Black Panther experience, giving them more agency and control over their narrative than they have ever experienced in a story-driven video game,” Stephens said.

It is worth noting that the studio was formally opened back in 2021, but neither its name nor details about the debut game have been disclosed until today. In the latest announcement, Electronic Arts basically confirmed rumors that Stephens and a group of former Monolith developers last year started the development of a new Black Panther title.

Established in 2009, Marvel Games is a video game division of Marvel Entertainment, which licenses and publishes games based on the company’s franchises. Cliffhanger’s Black Panther game will join the list of other AAA titles that have come out in recent years, including Marvel’s Spider-Man and Guardians of the Galaxy.

Right now, Electronic Arts is also working on an Iron Man project. It is being developed by Motive Studio, a Montreal-based team behind Star Wars: Squadrons and the remake of Dead Space.