Xbox gamers tried (and failed) to stop Marvel's Spider-Man being PS4 exclusive back in 2017

The wait for Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 is almost over. As each day passes, we inch closer and closer to that fabled 20 October release date, at which point gamers everywhere will finally be able to swing around the streets of open-world New York once more. I can hardly wait.

Although I say ‘gamers everywhere’, I suppose what I really mean is ‘people who own a PS5’. Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 will be releasing solely on PlayStation’s new-gen console, continuing the trend of all of Insomniac’s Spidey releases skipping an Xbox release. Obviously, no one enjoys the feeling of missing out on an exclusive game, so I’m sure it comes as no surprise to hear that back in 2017, many Xbox fans tried very hard to stop the original Marvel’s Spider-Man from being a PS4 exclusive. Needless to say, their efforts were in vain.

Take a look at the trailer for Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 right here.

Specifically, gamers launched a petition on Change.org in July 2017 with a simple aim: “Stop Spider-Man being a PS4 exclusive”. The creator wrote in the campaign description: “Spider-Man has never been a console exclusive franchise, even the Sony Spider-Man film-based games are available on the Xbox. This is an outrage to all Spider-Man fans who own an Xbox One, and needs to be changed.”

While the petition has now closed (for obvious reasons), it managed to accumulate 965 signatures in the time it was active. Much like the ongoing petition to make Starfield a PlayStation exclusive, realistically, it never really stood much chance of being successful in the first place, regardless of how many people signed it.

With that said, Marvel’s Spider-Man Remastered finally made it to PC last year, so at least more people have been able to play it that way. Right now, it’s not been confirmed if Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 will eventually come to PC too, but Sony has been releasing way more exclusives on there lately, so it doesn’t seem out of the question.