Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy had a planned multiplayer component

(Image credit: Square Enix)

Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy originally had a multiplayer component, but the feature was cancelled in the early stages of development.

In a thread on Resetera, user Nightengale highlighted the LinkedIn account of Simon Laroche, who is currently working as game director on one of Horizon Forbidden West developer Guerilla Games' unannounced projects. Between a lengthy stint at Ubisoft Montreal and his current position, Laroche worked at Eidos Montreal on the Guardians of the Galaxy project, as the game's online gameplay director.

Laroche's account states that he worked on the online component of the game between March 2017 and February 2018, but the multiplayer aspect was canceled. That tracks with the game's reveal last month, in which publisher Square Enix confirmed the title would be a single-player only experience.

It's no great surprise that Eidos Montreal was once considering a multiplayer approach. Marvel's Avengers - another team-based superhero caper from Square Enix - has leaned heavily on online play, with the single-player campaign taking up a comparatively small part of the overall experience. It'd be interesting to learn, however, exactly what caused the Guardians team to walk back its multiplayer approach, especially as the feature seems to have been canned relatively early in the development timeline.

Unveiled during Square Enix's showcase at E3 2021 (but leaked ahead of time), Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy puts players in the shoes and leather jacket of Star-Lord, also known as Earth's Peter Quill, with the rest of the team fighting at his side. The decisions you make as Quill will shape the narrative, as well as your crew's opinions of you, as you meet up with characters from across the Guardians' rich comicbook history.

For a rundown of all of the game's shortly to arrive on your consoles, here's our list of new games 2021.

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