Gazillion's Marvel Universe Online news coming soon?

The first details for Gazillion Entertainment's Marvel MMO are coming.

Some interesting comments have been posted on the official Marvel Twitter page today suggesting news for the comic book company's rumored massive multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG or MMO) will be coming soon.

Thursday evening Marvel's community manager tweeted, "Follow/join the @MMMSociety to get the hints & clues about the #MarvelU #MMO. There may even be a hint today..." Today came and went, but if you head over to the MMMSociety page, you'll find a protected Twitter account with only an avatar and description, which says, "The Marvel Massively Multiplayer Society is your gateway to the Marvel Universe, Marvel's upcoming epic MMO." The protected account suggests the teaser on the Marvel Twitter page may have been premature, but it's likely we'll see some news very soon.

This isn't the company's first foray into the MMO market. Shortly after the launch of the Microsoft Xbox 360, Marvel partnered with Microsoft Game Studios to release an exclusive MMO for the console and PC. City of Heroes developer Cryptic Studios began working on the project. Then in February 2008, Microsoft made the baffling decision to cancel their plans for the game, titled Marvel Universe Online. Studio head, Shane Kim, told the press that a Marvel MMO wouldn't be able to compete in the highly competitive market dominated by World of Warcraft. Many thought that was the end for a Marvel game in the MMO market, but in 2009 the company inked a ten-year exclusive deal with Gazillion Entertainment, a studio composed of many Cryptic employees.

In early 2009, CEO, Rob Hutter, told Big Download, "We've been working quietly over the past three years in stealth mode putting together studios and a team to go after what we see as a key opportunity over the next decade -- bringing the MMO format to the mainstream audience," said Hutter. "To accomplish this we think you need to do two things -- create really high quality titles running on rock solid operations and execution capabilities and partner with household brands or worldwide global brands that have hundreds of millions of touch points with fan bases and provide a terrific installed base of enthusiasts to come in and participate in an MMO game."

Though the original Marvel Universe Online game's cancelation left many fans disappointed, developer Cryptic Studios went on with development using The Champions license. The following year, Champions Online was released. Since then, the superhero MMO's fanbase has flourished, picking up many new players after dropping subscriptions in favor of a free-to-play system. Still, it didn't make a big splash in the market as Microsoft had predicted. Have Marvel and Gazillion learned from the experience and are ready to finally bring the MMO format to the mainstream?