'Spider-Man: Miles Morales' News: Sony Clarifies Reveal, Sequel Or Expansion?

When “Spider-Man: Miles Morales” was revealed as one of the new games at the PlayStation 5 event last week, the Internet was abuzz for a few reasons.

Morales, introduced in 2011 in Marvel Comics as a different Spider-Man from Peter Parker, is Afro-Latino and was prominently featured in last year’s popular film, “Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse.” For many gaming enthusiasts, they were excited at the prospect of playing a full game as Morales, but there was a question about how they would term it: is this a sequel to 2018’s “Marvel’s Spider-Man?”

That latter game was a massive hit on the PlayStation 4 and still starred the classic Peter Parker web-slinger with his bright red and blue costume. The confusion arose later when a PlayStation executive referred to it as an “expansion” to “Marvel’s Spider-Man.” Developer Insomniac Games subsequently stated that Spider-Man: Miles Morales would be a standalone game.

A sequel is expected to be bigger than the first, if not completely better. An expansion though can just add elements to what was already previously established. Eagle-eyed fans noticed that some of the locations in the “Spider-Man: Miles Morales” trailer appear to be from the PS4 Spider-Man game.

"I can safely say that we would not effectively lead the next-gen portion of the show with something that was either trivial or misleading," Sony Interactive Entertainment President and CEO Jim Ryan told GameSpot sister site CNET.

Adding to the confusion is that Bloomberg reported that the game is neither an expansion nor a remaster, but it isn’t a full-on sequel either. It is described by the site as a "brand-new, standalone game similar in scope to ‘Uncharted: The Lost Legacy.’"

GameSpot reports that Simon Rutter, Sony’s EVP head of European Business, attempted to describe it as an expansion that uses an upgraded version of the original. "There's a substantial Miles Morales component--which is the expansion element--but also within the game as well, there have been major enhancements to the game and the game engine, obviously deploying some of the major PlayStation 5 technology and features," Rutter explained.

Consider us as confused as the rest of you. Whether it is a sequel, an expansion, a remaster, or a standalone title, “Spider-Man: Miles Morales” is one of the titles that will launch with the PlayStation 5 during the 2020 holiday season.