Marvel’s Avengers is finally being shut down, confirming earlier rumors, as support for the game will end before the end of 2023.
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After claims from leaker “Miller” two months prior, developer Crystal Dynamics announced the “Final Update on the Future of Marvel’s Avengers.” Opening with praise to their “amazing community,” the dev team stated, “After two-and-a-half years and introducing twelve of Earth’s Mightiest Heroes, following Update 2.8 on March 31, 2023, we will no longer add new content or features to Marvel’s Avengers.”
“All official support for the game will end on September 30, 2023,” they added. Miller had previously expressed doubt the game would reach it’s 4.0 update.
Crystal Dynamics emphasized “even after official support ceases on September 30, 2023, both single- and multi-player gameplay will continue to be available.”
“Update 2.7, which added the Winter Soldier Hero and Cloning Lab Omega-Level Threat, is the last new content to be added to the game. No new cosmetics are coming to the Marketplace, and all final balance updates will occur in Update 2.8 in March,” Crystal Dynamics revealed.
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After Update 2.8, launching March 31st, the cosmetics Marketplace will be “turned off,” and Credits can no longer be purchased. A chart was provided, explaining how player’s remaining Credit balances would be converted into other in-game resources “to aid ongoing adventures.”
“As a show of our appreciation for our community,” the developers stated, “starting March 31, 2023 we will make all the game’s Marketplace, Challenge Card, and Shipment cosmetic content available to all players for free. Every single Outfit, Takedown, Emote, and Nameplate from the Marketplace, Challenge Cards, and Shipments will be free for all players from this date onwards if you own a copy of the game.”
“Gifting the full library of Marketplace cosmetic content is a way to thank our community by letting everyone experience the breadth and depth of content in Marvel’s Avengers,” Crystal Dynamics said.
“We know this is disappointing news as everyone in our community has such a connection to these characters and their stories. We’re so, so grateful that you came on this adventure with us,” their statement continued.
“Your excitement for Marvel’s Avengers – from your epic Photo Mode shots, to your threads theorizing who our next Heroes would be, to your Twitch streams – has played a large part in bringing this game to life,” Crystal Dynamics emphasized. “We hope you continue to play and enjoy Marvel’s Avengers. We can’t thank you enough for your support and for being part of our super team.”
In the subsequent Q&A section, Crystal Dynamics stated the decision to end support for Marvel’s Avengers “was made in conjunction with our partners that now was the right time to make this change.” They also reiterated solo and multiplayer modes would continue to function after September 30th, and they are making changes to “ensure [the game has] as long a life as possible,” barring unforeseen circumstances.
The game will still be purchasable before September 30th — as well as being on Game Pass and PlayStation Plus Extra — and at retail while supplies last. Even pre-owned copies purchased after September 30th will have access to the free cosmetics. Those who delete digital versions of the game can still reinstall them after that date — again, aside from unforeseen circumstances.
In-game events such as Red Room Takeover will still occur in rotation every two weeks.
Those with corrupted save files after September 30th cannot be offered support, nor will there be any bug fixes thereafter. The cosmetic vendor will also remain, and Spider-Man will still be a PlayStation exclusive character. The Shipment system will be deactivated (all its cosmetics available for free).
At the time of writing, Marvel’s Avengers has an average user score of 4.6 on Metacritic across all platforms. Even from launch, players were critical of bugs and performance issues, along with the gameplay being heavily grindy and a heavy focus on the “live-service” business model.
Square Enix announced they had a $48 million loss in the second quarter of Fiscal Year 2021- with Marvel’s Avengers being their only major release at the time. Square Enix also admitted the game failed to offset development costs. President Matsuda would state a year later that the game “produced a disappointing outcome.”
YouTuber Vara Dark was vocal about her and many other’s condemnation of the game, noting in her video that on top of the poor reception, Crystal Dynamics almost “went silent” with a lack of discussion on content, prior to the unsurprising news the plug was being pulled.
Vara discussed how, rather than being a cautionary tale, what occurred to Marvel’s Avengers may legitimize other developers and publishers releasing “grind-fest” live-service games that are intended to have a very short life-span — much to the annoyance of those who showed their dedication through purchases.
Nonetheless, Marvel’s Avengers joins the pantheon of failed live-service titles such as Fallout 76, Battlefield 2042, Star Wars: Battlefront 2 and more — but being notable in that it had it’s supported ended like like Anthem.
Vara argues Marvel’s Avengers was finally put out to pasture due to the firing of Design Lead Brian Waggoner — over tweets that didn’t reflect the “studio’s values.” She proposes that “the core individual fighting for it is gone. […] He was probably the only one holding the fort down, and now it’s fallen apart, so they really brought the situation upon themselves.”
“This game did deserve to fail,” Vara opined, citing the game’s lack of content, and the content that was there wasn’t of good quality, but still sad a game could be “lost” and being a missed opportunity regardless.
What do you make of Marvel’s Avengers finally be set out to pasture?