Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy did once have online multiplayer. As spotted by ResetEra, Simon Larouche’s LinkedIn profile confirms he was once the game’s Online Gameplay Director at Eidos Montréal before that aspect of the game was cancelled.
The single-player third-person narrative action-adventure follows the antics of the Guardians of the Galaxy as they travel the universe in their Milano. While the action will take place from the perspective of Star Lord, players will still need to use the abilities of his fellow Guardians to get themselves out of all of the wild situations they’ll encounter. It’s unknown whether the online multiplayer would have been co-op with other players fulfilling the roles of the remaining four Guardians or whether there would have been competitive game modes. However, all aspects of multiplayer have now been cancelled. Guardians of the Galaxy is 100% a single-player game.
Larouche left the company in 2018 and is now Game Director on a secret unannounced title for Guerrilla Games. Whether his departure coincides with the cancellation of multiplayer or whether that occurred after he left the company is also unknown. If the former is true, this means the decision has nothing to do with the rocky launch of Marvel’s Avengers in 2020 and the loss of profits publisher Square Enix incurred as a result. After the game failed to make a profit for several months after its launch, the publisher promised they had learned lessons for the future. However, it seems these were inconsequential for Guardians of the Galaxy as the multiplayer had been cancelled long before.
Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy will be released on October 26 for PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X, and Switch. The game will have a standard edition available digitally and at retail, as well as a Digital Deluxe Edition and a physical Cosmic Deluxe Edition. Those who preorder any version of the game will get an early unlock of the Throwback Guardians Outfit Pack.
