VulcanRaven
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Spider-Man 2 Is Missing This Major New York City Landmark
A prominent part of New York City's skyline is missing from Insomniac's latest game. Here's why.
www.gameinformer.com
Spider-Man: Miles Morales Is Missing This Major New York City Landmark
"One of New York City's most iconic landmarks, the Chrysler Building, was removed for the recent release of Marvel's Spider-Man: Miles Morales. The building was not only featured in Marvel's Spider-Man video game from 2018 but has been featured in lots of Marvel media over the past several decades. However, with the building coming under new ownership in 2019, it looks like the Chrysler Building may be making fewer appearances. We talked to a copyright lawyer about the ways buildings are protected by copyright and to developer Insomniac games about why it had to change its version of the New York City skyline.
The Chrysler Building opened on May 27, 1930 and stood as the tallest building in the world until the Empire State Building was completed in May 1931, one mile away. Since its completion, the Chrysler Building has remained not only one of New York City's most famous skyscrapers, but also one of the most famous skyscrapers in American architecture. The art deco building, which rises to 1,046 feet with 77 floors, is particularly famous for its eight eagles, which protrude from the exterior of the 61st floor.
The structure has also been a staple in Marvel comics, movies, and now games. It is heavily featured in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, the Spider-Man animated series, and the various Spider-Man film adaptations and movie posters. In Marvel's Spider-Man on PS4, the Chrysler Building was one of the game's 47 featured landmarks, which players had to photograph for a side-mission, and was completely recreated for the game's open-world. But now, if you go to the same location on the map in Miles Morales, you see a nondescript skyscraper. However, in the recent PlayStation 5 remaster of the first Spider-Man, the Chrysler Building is still present."
"In fact, the Chrysler Building is protected under copyright, and so its owners and IP holders are free to decide whether or not it shows up in a piece of media, like Miles Morales. For whatever reason, SIGNA Group or RFR Holding LLC decided they didn't want their building to appear in the game, even if the previous owners allowed it. And it's completely within their rights as the owners of the Chrysler Building, no matter how iconic the building is or if it appeared in a game just two years prior. According to what we heard from Insomniac, the developer did try to get permission, but obviously were not able to.
"When creating our representation of the city we wanted to include as many landmarks as we could to add to the sense of immersion," James Stevenson, Insomniac's community director, told Game Informer when asked for comment. "Sometimes negotiations to use those locations didn’t work out, which was the case with the Chrysler Building in Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales.""
The building is still there in the Spider-Man Remastered. I think its really stupid that you have to ask for permission if you want to include buildings in your game. I'm still sad that the new One World Trade Center was removed from the final version of the 2018 game. I hope they can include it in Spider-Man 2.
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