As part of a $1 billion investment in internal game development, Hasbro is working on a new game set in the G.I. Joe universe which will focus on the team’s resident ninja, Snake Eyes. The project was first revealed to be in pre-production last year and is being developed by a team made up of Batman Arkham veterans. According to a new interview by GamesIndustry.biz with Dan Ayoub, head of digital product development at Hasbro’s Wizards of the Coast, the game will hopefully be a “shot in the arm” for the whole G.I. Joe franchise.
This is hardly the first time a G.I. Joe game has ever been made. In fact, adaptations date back to the Atari 2600 era, with the first, G.I. Joe: Cobra Strike, releasing in 1983. The most recent game in the franchise was G.I. Joe: Operation Blackout, a third-person shooter released in 2020 that currently has a 51 score on review aggregation site Metacritic. But the new game seems to be getting much more love from franchise owner Hasbro than past titles.
Much of that comes down to the developer behind the project. Ayoub highlighted that Atomic Arcade is leading development on the Snake Eyes game. Atomic Arcade is led by Ames Kirshen, who previously helped lead production on the Batman Arkham games. The Arkham series remains the high point of comic-inspired video games for its inventive action and original take on the caped crusader. Having that pedigree behind the Snake Eyes game is a good sign.
But one of the hurdles Hasbro faces is making people care about G.I. Joe enough in this day and age to get the game when it is finished. To that end, Ayoub says that the project is “not your daddy’s G.I. Joe.” That makes it sound like Hasbro and Atomic Arcade will be taking a more adult-oriented approach to the game and its subject matter.
On the Atomic Arcade website, Kirshen calls the studio’s take on the franchise “edgier and more mature.” He goes on to cite a number of influences across film, TV, comics, and games, including Metal Gear Solid, Call of Duty, the Captain America movies, and the recent G.I. Joe comics from Devil’s Due and IDW. It’s a long list, although the only thing that really matters is that he mentioned Sekiro as an influence on swordplay, and any ninja-focused game taking a page out of Sekiro’s book is doing something right.
.