The Unofficial PC Build of Marvel's Spider-Man 2: A Project Doomed to Fail
An in-depth look at the failed attempt to create an unofficial PC build of Marvel's Spider-Man 2 using leaked materials from the recent Insomniac data breach.
The Hype and the Cyberattack
An unofficial Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 PC port derived from materials leaked in the recent Insomniac data breach is being scrapped. After two years of hype and eager anticipation, Spider-Man 2 finally launched on the PlayStation 5 to rave reviews in October. While it didn’t take home any honors at The Game Awards 2023, Spider-Man 2 was still well-regarded for updating the open-world gameplay formula of its predecessors and quickly became one of Insomniac’s highest-selling video games.
Unfortunately for the acclaimed Marvel’s Spider-Man and Ratchet and Clank developer, Insomniac would fall victim to a massive cyberattack in December that resulted in a large amount of data being leaked to the public. This includes many of Insomniac’s plans for future Marvel titles like a Venom-centric spin-off and an X-Men game, along with plenty of details surrounding the upcoming Marvel’s Wolverine’s story, gameplay, and voice cast.
Not too long after the leak, a playable PC build of Wolverine started circulating online, causing internet service providers to begin issuing DMCA notices to those who illegally downloaded it. Various individuals have attempted to get a similar PC build for Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 working using materials pulled from the Insomniac data breach, as reported by Comicbook.com. However, many of the people involved have started to withdraw from the unauthorized project after traces of it were leaked online and subsequently taken down by Sony. Twitter user The Red Dragon has been keeping tabs on the situation, sharing captured screenshots of these individuals announcing that they were no longer working on the unofficial Spider-Man 2 PC port before later being banned from Discord.
Twitter article posted by THE RED DRAGON
The Legal Implications and Future Prospects
As a result of this, it seems very unlikely that the unauthorized Spider-Man 2 PC build will ever see the light of day - but this doesn’t mean that PC owners won’t get to play the game in a more legal capacity down the road. Insomniac released PC ports of both Marvel’s Spider-Man Remastered and Spider-Man: Miles Morales in 2022, about a year before Spider-Man’s PS5-exclusive launch. This is part of a larger initiative from Sony to bring first-party PlayStation games to PC, with titles like Horizon: Zero Dawn and the 2018 God of War reboot being ported years after their original PS console releases.
If this pattern holds true for Marvel’s Spider-Man 2, Insomniac will likely release an official PC version of the game at some point. In the meantime, it appears that Sony and Insomniac are taking measures to prevent its leaked content from spreading across the internet, including the materials used to build an unauthorized PC build of its latest superhero title that probably won’t be completed at this point. This is likely for the best, as the PC port in question would have been pirated content with all the legal and technical risks said content usually brings.
