Spider-Man Miles Morales, developed by Insomniac Games, does not feature the iconic Chrysler Building due to copyright issues. The same building featured in Spider-Man and the remastered version of this game, which released in 2018.
If you’ve had the opportunity to experience the game, you may have noticed that one of New York City’s landmarks, the Chrysler Building, is not located in the city. The same building located in Spider-Man, which released in 2018, and a reworked ‘remaster’ version of this game. This made players wonder why the Chrysler Building not included in the new game.
Insomniac Games’ James Stevenson confirmed to Game Informer that the developer couldn’t work things out with the landmark’s current owners. (It has changed ownership since the development of 2018’s Spider-Man). “When creating our representation of the city we wanted to include as many landmarks as we could to add to the sense of immersion.” Explained Stevenson. “Sometimes negotiations to use those locations didn’t work out. It was the case with the Chrysler Building in Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales.“
Designs that look like an ordinary building do not pose any problems when used in games. However, specific and distinct architectural works such as the Chrysler Building can protect by copyright, and therefore developers not allowed to recreate such structures for commercial use.
The Chrysler Building Is Not Featured In Spider-Man Miles Morales Due To Copyright:
According to reports, Insomniac Games, which is the developer of Spider-Man Miles Morales, wanted to include this building, which is protected by copyright law, in the virtual city of New York in the game, but the negotiations with the owner of the building were negative.
Michael Lee, the founder of Lee Law, explained this situation to Game Informer as follows:
“If you have just a basic box of a building that looks like just a generic building. You can’t go around and sue every building in Manhattan, and say, ‘You have stolen my idea of what a building looks like.’ You can’t protect the functionality of something. However, you could protect the artistic parts of it. So when it comes to certain architecture, whether it has big spires at the top. Or whether it has curved glass, whether you see something and you see that it is unique and different, that absolutely protected by copyright. So in order to reproduce it in either another building or make a derivative work. Such as a T-shirt, a model, or even putting it in a video game, you need authorization from the copyright owner to reproduce the protected thing.”
It may be disappointing for many players that the Chrysler Building does not appear in Miles Morales. However, the absence of the building does not degrade the quality of the virtual Manhattan that Insomniac has put forward. In fact, many players have had the opportunity to experience the game in the next generation. They have spoken of the production with praise.
