“It’s happening. It’s playable. I’ve got my SpongeBob controller here, but it’s on my hard drive right now. So I can go through and play the build,” Shawn Kittelsen, senior vice president, and head of creative and production at Paramount Games Studio, told IGN.
“We’re continuing development on it, but Amy [Hennig] and the team have big ambitions for the level of quality that they want to hit. They are a relatively small team considering the triple-A quality that they’re delivering. What you’ve seen in previous footage is what the game looks like, and we’re making it with a fraction of the resources that you see on other triple-A games of the same type, and really trying to push a new development model that’s a lot more responsible and sustainable,” he continued.
If you’re finding it difficult to keep up with our modern malaise of corporate mergers, and acquisitions, Paramount Games Studio is a new banner that was born from Paramount’s merger with Skydance. It brings together the gaming brands, and projects of the two companies under one label.
Kittelsen explained that the studio is giving the team “time to cook” as it continues to invest in the project. Asked directly when he expects the game to ship, Kittelsen revealed: “I don’t think it’ll be 2026.”
Rise of Hydra is an action-adventure game set in occupied Paris in the 1940s, featuring a cast of classic Marvel characters. The game stars Captain America, and Azzuri’s (WW2-era) Black Panther, alongside Nanali, and Gabe Jones. The project is headed up by veteran narrative designer and director Amy Hennig, whose credits include the Uncharted series, Legacy of Kain, Jak 3, and others.
It was announced all the way back in October 2021 as the debut title from Skydance New Media, and though it reappears every couple of years, we’ve never been clear on when we’re actually going to be playing it.
Most recently, the game was delayed from its previous “early 2026” target to an unspecified release window. That release window was itself announced in the summer of 2025, after Black Panther actor Khary Payton let slip earlier that year that the project is targeting a holiday 2025 release.
Our only actual look at Marvel 1943: Rise of Hydra was back in 2024, when the developer shared an impressive cinematic trailer at Epic Games’ State of Unreal event, which showcased how the game is making use of key Unreal Engine technologies.
“We believe in Amy and the whole team there and supporting them, and that game will come out when it’s ready. But it is very real and we are continuing to invest in it,” Kittelsen added.