‘It’s a Relentless Onslaught’: Wolverine PS5 Dev Responds to Unprecedented Criticism
Insomniac Games’ communications director James Stevenson has criticised what he described as a “relentless onslaught” of negative social-media commentary about Marvel’s Wolverine for PS5. The backlash centres on clips mocking the game as unoriginal or simplistic, despite generally positive early previews, and raises concerns about algorithm-driven hostility and its effect on developers’ mental health.
Examples include comparisons between Wolverine’s Sentinel boss battle and a PS2 Ben 10 game, plus clips reducing its gameplay to holding forward or repeatedly pressing a single button. Push Square argues that broader dissatisfaction with PlayStation’s cinematic action-game formula and its physical-game policies may be fuelling the reaction; however, the game remains the third most pre-ordered title in the US PS Store, behind GTA 6 and two editions of NBA 2K27.
- Insomniac says online criticism of Wolverine has become excessively negative.
- Viral clips portray the PS5 game as simplistic and unoriginal.
- Strong US pre-orders suggest the backlash has not hurt demand.