Spider-Man Creative Director Speaks Out on Peter Parker's New Face Following Backlash

Today I'm embarrassed to call myself a gamer...

Peter looking like a Tom Holland rip-off just doesn’t sit well.

@Xaessya This makes my head hurt so much it's not even a joke

I'd rather take Calculus 10 times over reading that

I've adjusted to the look a little bit. I can see what they were going for, in trying to mimic the fact that people in their early adulthood up to their mid 20s can tend to carry a bit of their teenage-complexion until they age up a little more, but he still doesn't look 23. He looks 17 or 18 to me

Does this mean I’ll have to change my avatar?

Hooray for realism, gotta remaster this 2 year old game and replace Peter's likeness because REALISM!

This remaster is not needed.

I really liked original Peter from the first time i saw him. I am not pleased with this change

Frankly I think gamers and in particular Playstation gamers just like moaning for the sake of it at the moment. Yes its odd how they're making this available on PS5 but what they have done here looks great and clearly a lot of effort has gone into it. I'm really looking forward to playing it again and its really showing the ray tracing capabilities of the PS5 as well. Bring on November 19th

@nessisonett absolutely

@get2sammyb It wasn't justified from the start. It's a 2 year old PS4 game that can already be played on the console and didn't even require any of these "enhancements"

At least The Last of Us re-released on a console that wasn't backwards compatible with any PS3 games

@get2sammyb I reckon they remastered it because they’re changing Peter’s face in Miles Morales and this provides a way to play the original with the new face, to maintain consistency.

How many articles will you write about this face? Bloody hell it's ridiculous 😂

@nessisonett Sounds like it will make the animators job easier for the sequel too.

I guess the real question is:
"Where was Ben Jordan when Insomniac was making the PS4 game?"

Not a fan of marvel, but this is just incredibly stupid and dumb. These people need to move on, this is something like an angry young kid would react.

@Ron22 still in diapers.

At least Yuris having fun with this. While i do prefer the original design at least they had a reason to change it. Shame this overtaken the gameplay and graphical improvements.

@get2sammyb Just because you don't have to buy a game doesn't mean you don't get the right to criticize certain practices you feel come into conflict with things you already know

"Just don't buy it" is probably the lamest possible defence for practices like this

Anyway.
What's the next drama?
Cant wait haha

Its always something with this game isn't it

How is this even drama ? you are in the Spidey suit for like 99% of the game ? O_O .

@TheFrenchiestFry well just play the backwards compatible version then, nobody's forcing you to buy this

EDIT: I've just seen your don't buy it line, well too late now I suppose 😅

They finally got the TASM suit, the best looking Spidey suit IMO. That's what matters to me the most

One of the things I didn’t like about the original game was the character models. There was something odd about them. Like they were first generation android prototypes or something. Glad they changed Peters look personally - he looks a million time’s better than the original. Wish they would redesign all of the original character models tbh.

People on the internet are PATHETIC. I am getting BORED of people slagging off PlayStation and SONY for everything they do :-/

Well, they did say the PS5 version would have new features

I prefer the original but I don't think this warrant's a backlash like at all... there's plenty of other PlayStation stuff that does deserve a backlash 😋

I really don't believe this was Insomniac's call. I have a sneaking suspicion that Marvel and Sony made this call in order to get someone who looks more like Tom Holland. I don't buy this excuse of them saying the face needed to be updated for future proofing, because no one else aside from Parker seems to be getting new faces.

@God_of_Nowt It's a good get for people who missed out on the first game, but it would've been even better had the PS5 just not been able to play the first game as is. That's what rubs me the wrong way personally

Like the Game of the Year Edition also has literally all the content this remaster has minus the new suits, and is practically the exact same game but cheaper than forking out 10 extra bucks for a physical copy of another game that comes with a measly little download voucher.

I guess the blow would've been softened if they actually gave this game an individual release, and it could've strengthened the otherwise pretty weak PS5 launch lineup if it was released at retail alongside Miles Morales for people who missed out on playing the PS4 game. As is, the fact that the UE of Miles Morales is the ONLY way you can get this feels kind of scummy if they're treating this as a whole different game and aren't even bothering to give a free upgrade to existing players or even a standalone release on the PS Store or something at the very least

Besides, I don't think anyone who chooses to play the PS4 version on PS5 will feel in dire need of reflective windows and puddles. The only real loss is 60fps imo because I do genuinely think the game benefits from that.

@get2sammyb Well, was it needed? Again, a 2 year old game. Are people really that desperate for ray tracing? If you want the remaster, cool. But again, I do not feel this was needed.

Regarding Insomniac now doing too much as opposed to not enough, it still feels like they have not done enough, and this recast does not add enough to justify the remaster. If anything, it takes away.

@God_of_Nowt I bought it and the dlc at full price on PS4 and I'm buying the remaster as part of Miles Morales because its not that much more and I'd quite like to play it with the updates.

Despite it not being an issue for me I do feel they should offer an upgrade path for those that did buy it first time round or separately

new face? who cares, really

My god, what will be the next outrage of gamers find out soon on the next chapter of dragon ball z.

@Shepherd_Tallon Actually I really hate that he isn't still played by Terrence Howard. That and the ol' Rachel switcheroo in Nolan's Batverse has always bothered me.

Then again I never threatened anyone on Twitter over it either.

@TheFrenchiestFry it is an optional extra. No knit picking required.

A 4th article on peter parkers face... Slowest news day in history?

@MS7000 Is someonef orcing you to purchase it and play it? Nope! So don't play it!

I truly am embarrassed to even call myself a gamer today. Whiney little biatches.

@Ron22 looking 13 instead of 17

I don't care for the change, but it's not something I'm going to lose sleep over. People need to chill out.

The change bothers me enough that I'm considering not buying the rest of the games. I grew attached to Peter's character with his original look and prefer that look to boot.

@God_of_Nowt At the start of every generation there was always talk about this kind of muddy and messy stuff regardless of who was involved

7th gen was all about how Sony was digging their own grave with the PS3 pricing and the inability to capitalize on Cell's potential for game development, 8th gen was about how Mattrick ran Xbox into the ground and they lost a lot of consumer morale in addition to not having many high profile exclusives worth a damn

Sony is definitely getting some of that PS3-era cockiness back in their hubris, but at least they also have games I'm interested in barring their stupidly backwards policies on something Microsoft is just hitting out of the park every time I see it in action.

@MS7000 if you dont think its needed then like it was said before then "dont buy it"

The fact that there are so many people on the internet complaining about something as simple as a face in a video game is embarrassing. If half of the people cared this mush about ACTUAL real world problems the world might be a better place and gamers wouldn't get as much flak as they do for being toxic.

The bottom line is they changed it. It doesn't matter what you think about it because its done. If you don't think the remaster is needed play the ps4 version. Dont like the face play the ps4 version. Dont think the extras are worth it, play the ps4 version.

This is such a minor problem that people are blowing way out of proportion.

The new face looks off in the pic that Insomniac posted, but I'm sure it'll grow on me.

I remember when they changed Lara's face from the jump from PS3 to PS4 for the Tomb Raider reboot. It was kinda weird seeing her new face, but I'm so used to it now that her old face looks off.

@torne @jmac1686 If people do not voice concerns and disagreements when they have them, the same situation will recur because developers get the idea that people are fine with it. DLC, microtransactions, and exclusive preorder content are all practices which have been normalised over time because not enough people disagree, or at least say as such. Voting with your wallet is not enough, stuff like this needs to be called out so that others can look and judge for themselves.

In this particular case with the face recast, no, it probably does not matter much in the grand scheme of things. Nor does my opinion of the need for a remaster matter by itself (although I would much prefer they made another new game alongside Miles Morales, perhaps another superhero?).I will still say I disagree in the faintest hope that the devs/publishers will be more considerate in the future. If you think that is embarassing and whiny, then that is unfortunate, but no one else is going to say this for me, so I need to say it myself regardless of whether it changes anything. It is not like I am being disrespectful or calling people "whiny bitches", or sending death threats.

I could care less honestly. I doubt I'm playing the remaster, but this would not be on the list of reasons why.

@MS7000 dlc and micro-transactions are a completey separate argument to be made and i 1000% agree with you there. A line needs to be drawn.

A characters face being changed is the least of my concerns. It has no bearing on me whatsoever. The gaming community is once again making a mountain out of a mole hill and quite frankly should be embarrassed.

The amount of hate being thrown around over this insignificant change is embarrassing.

I am embarrassed to be a gamer today because of the hatred being spewed over this. If this is the worst thing going on in the lives of the people complaining then they have it pretty frigging good.

There are bigger things to worry about. End of story

I mean, I like it better. But it was a weird fcuking thing to do...

I don't care about the face change, I actually think it looks better! I do think they should have just given this to people who had the ps4 spiderman season pass though. The remaster is basically the same price as the dlc and no way as many people bought the season pass as the base game. They could have ended up at the same point without all the bloody drama and locking it behind buying another game. Just watched the comparison video on YouTube on my oled and I feel bad for insomniac, the ps5 version looks great! They have done a good job, just the business choices and messaging that have went wrong

@torne "In this particular case with the face recast, no, it probably does not matter much in the grand scheme of things."

As I said in my previous comment, and quoted above, I can agree that the face thing is blown out of proportion. But that is not the main problem I have (though I prefer the old likeness). As far as I am concerned, it is just another example of the hunt for realism hindering games rather than helping, which is a far bigger problem in my eyes (although perhaps a personal problem, but again, if I have a problem, I should say as no one else will). It is amazing the detail that some games can achieve, but it irks me when that comes at the expense of the overall experience, whether that be framerate, or gameplay.

I am also against the remaster since I give Nintendo crap for this regularly (porting/remastering Wii U titles as opposed to new games), so it is only fair I do the same to Sony (Microsoft have probably done this too, biut I don't follow them enough for specific examples).

Just to note though: If there are those who are threatening/being rude to devs as a result of this, they need to rethink what they are doing, and be more polite. They are being as useful as an ice ashtray.

@Shepherd_Tallon Don't worry I wasn't too bothered by the generalization, it was more of a "funny you should mention it" type thing.

To your point that people could probably take this stuff a little less seriously, that's hard to argue with.

@MS7000 oof, someone really hates ice trays. 😋

Edit: I totally misread but I'm leaving it lol.

@zupertramp Them damn ice trays. =P

They changed his haircut. What technical reasoning do they have for that?

A lot of crying over nothing. It's a great improvement, and one sorely needed if there's going to be a sequel.

@MS7000 yea i should have clarified most of that last comment wasn't directed at you. Mainly just agreeing with the dlc stuff.

Everything else is just general frustrations with the gaming community as a whole becoming more and more toxic with each passing day.

@torne I figured as much, but just in case, wanted to write that to show I do agree.

On to the next topic: are the enhancements worth the investment if you already own the PS4 version (and played it twice and got a Platinum)? I'm thinking the transition is going to be quite weird from old Peter looks to Spider-Man 2, unless the game has a time-travel story because this new face look younger. 60 FPS and the usage of adaptive triggers sound good as well...

To buy or not to buy? That's the question.

I don’t really believe that they weren’t able to use whatever face model they wanted. I mean, I’ve seen Shrek. What I think happened is they had some sort of falling out with the original model so they don’t want to work with him again. They still need someone for Miles Morales and Spider-Man 2, so they hired a new guy and redid everything for consistency. It would be weird to go have Spider-Man look like a completely different person between games if you start the series with the remaster. This way it doesn’t affect people that are new to the series.

I just don't get why, if you absolutely need a mo-capped face actor that matches the VA's bone structure, you don't just use the actual person speaking the words for it from the start.

The new Peter is definitely an upgrade. I liked the original Peter just fine, but it did it look a tad dated.

@Ron22 he was last gen

@Fath but the guy who voiced it looks old, he is like 40. You want a 40 year old looking college dropout 23 year old Spider-Man???

@Shstrick why did you write this 😂😂

@R1spam I guess it's a thing where they used big money to make these changes. Did they have to make a remaster like this? Probably not but with miles morales having a different looking Peter Parker, it'd be weird if ppl played the first one and the miles morales one is just like woah who's that guy.

Did it need to be charged for? I think so because it's a lot of changes. I played og Spiderman and it was cool but this looks so so good. And look at TW3 being a free upgrade, it's just a publishers choice, both aren't new games and TW3 will probably look better and it's free so I guess it makes sense why ppl are angry but you shouldn't be angry just because one person is being generous and the other is wanting their money's worth.

@Xaessya he said "marvel's spider-man" way too many times.

@theMEGAniggle You can De age him, so he looks younger. He actually looks like he could be Peter Parker. So it would fit and would definitely fit the voice since its his face.

Wonder if the same people that don't like the new models would say the same if it was a free upgrade?

I hear what their saying, but this damages the character and the franchise for Insomniac. I played through the original three times. I have that actors face in my head as Spiderman. I just believe they could have found someone that looked more like the original if they were gonna change it. The part I hate is the up and down rollercoaster we had on this adventure with this Spiderman is gone. When this series resumes with Peters story its gonna feel like a completely different game with this guy.

At least 3 articles about this so far... flying the flag high for clickbait I suppose is on-brand.
I cannot fathom why anyone would care about this. It’s beyond minor.
In other news I just had a coffee.

@DigiTM they’d still complain about something. Gamers love to whine.

@RenanKJ would this really break immersion for you? Every Spider-Man game has different character models. Same with Batman.

@Fath because voice actors are hired for their voice and not necessarily their look.
The actor might be 6foot tall and 150kg when they are voicing a slightly built teenager.

@nessisonett nooooo leave it as it is.

Ps. owo can we be psn friends?

@Arnna They also often have motion capture actors look like their character at times. Delsin Rowe and Troy Baker, Nolan North and Nathan Drake, and the actor for Arthur Morgan in Red Dead 2 all look pretty similar to their characters. Heck, if they had made it earlier and done it really well, Nolan North could have just played Nathan Drake. He even suggested that once. (Why not cast the actors that already play the role instead of finding people like the actors that can mimic what already done). Not always though, other times they look nothing like their role.

@Arnna Honestly? Yes if I play in sequence (which I actually like to do). It's not a graphical improvement, it's a complete remodeling of Peter. It makes me think about purchasing the remaster.

@get2sammyb Hey Sammy, PushSquare could have an article comparing both versions, with a summary of what's new and personal thoughts of different reviewers if it sounds worth the double dip or not. That would be a good read.

Similar to the problems regarding inFamous 2. Developers redesign, character, then get annoyed they don't like better, prettier version of main character, because they don't realise they should have known to have that there in the first place but replacing midway through is a bigger faux pas. What's with these people? get a lead artist to create a character and STICK with it.

I call this BS. I think Sony interfered and changed the character model so that it kinda looks like Tom Holland to a degree. So people can associate Spidey to Tom Holland. There’s no other explanation. Especially after Sony acquired Insomniac. I really prefer the original Peter. Now we have to start all over again.

Sony: "Tom Holland is our Spider-Man, so make him look more like Tom Holland."
The internet: "REEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE"

I prefer the old face of Peter since I already got used to it and the voice of Yuri doesn't seem to fit the new face model.

Imagine, if Santa Monica change Kratos face because they want it to be more "realistic" lol I call BS on this. They can make Peter's face more realistic without a new face model Just look at Ellie or Joel for comparison.

@carlos82
Someone from Game Informer said all those tears will fix the puddle 'problem' in the remaster.
👍

@BrainHacker
Well....Ellie changed faces a couple of times but but its ND you know...

@JJ2 Ellie is still recognizable and her face understandably changed because she got older but Peter Parker on the remastered Spiderman looks like a totally new character. It might take me awhile before I get use to it.

@BrainHacker
Well I liked the Ellie on TLOU2 reveal trailer a lot better. Very different.

@JJ2 haha and then he can look at his new ray traced reflection in those puddles 😂

I actually really like it

that being said i played spiderman on my OG PS4 the face looks a lot worse

I think its weird but with the damaged face i want too change my answer with i like the older one better. Im a big fan of the Tobey Maquire Spiderman i really didnt like the new one Tom Holland. Nothing personal but i was watching it with a friend and it was clearly more targeted at teenagers.

@get2sammyb 'Don't buy it' is such a poor attempt at deflecting criticism.

People are already invested in the series and how Peter looks, changing his face and only announcing it a month before release is hard to swallow and the backlash is well deserved IMO and a valid criticism.

Not to mention that this will be his face going forward so you might not have to buy the remaster because you've already played it before but in the future sequel that everyone was looking forward to, it's still gonna be the new face which is jarring to say the least.

I know you have a boner for Insomniac but try to tone it down.

Everyone chill out!

Most of the game you don't even see his face anyway!

@theMEGAniggle If i have too choose between something like Tom Holland or Tobey Maquire ill take the old guy.

Some of y'all are upset over this? Why tho? Peter looks zaddy! I'd let him do me.

I voted for his original face, but at the end of the day, I don't care. I will get Miles Morales on ps4, anyway, so won't bother with the ps5 ones. I never got GoW 3 Remastered. I got Sleeping Dogs and The Arkham Collection, but that was because one had 2 games as well as the ps4 title and the other I always wanted to play but never got round to on ps3! Remasters are realistically for a definitive edition with all DLC, but I already have season pass for Spider Man on ps4

New face is a vast improvement. Old face looks like a steaming turd.

Change is one thing that humans will never be able to accept without quarrel. Remember when Kratos changed from TC Carson to Christopher Judge? People were a lot harsher than this. But they got over it. This too shall pass...

I bet the people THAT actually get the remaster version will be slightly small.. just some people being bitching again🤨😂

Tell insomniac that they fuked up, thanks for ruining it, you just lost a buyer a supporter, and I'm sure alot of people feel the same, I won't buy miles morales and I won't buy spiderman 2 because you ruined the experience and immersion, how can you go and change the face, even though it seems insignificant, but it does make a big difference and not in a good way, this gives a whole new meaning to the term if it's not broken don't fix it, so I'm boycotting you people, thanks for ruining your own game, it was great and had my support until you did that ridiculous stupid move.