It's been a bit of a rocky road for Marvel's Avengers, and that road is about to hit a dead end. Releasing in 2020, Marvel's Avengers was met with an immediate backlash due to its severe lack of content, lackluster gameplay, and focus on microtransactions. While Crystal Dynamics has continued to update Marvel's Avengers over the last few years, those updates haven't felt significant enough to justify the game's disappointing live-service approach, and after years of trying to resurrect the game, Marvel's Avengers has finally reached the end of its life, with Crystal Dynamics confirming that support for the game will end this year.
After a few reports came to light, Crystal Dynamics confirmed that Marvel's Avengers will cease to have any new content after March 2023. While fans will still be able to play both Avengers' single-player and multiplayer content, no new updates will be coming to the game after that point, which means no new heroes, no new Omega-Level raids, and no new mechanics. Still, there's a chance that Avengers' last update will be a good one.
Marvel's Avengers' Last Update Will Be a Bittersweet One for Fans
Marvel's Avengers' fate seems to have been sealed since before it was even released. Coming hot off the heels of Marvel's Spider-Man, many were desperate to dive head-first into a narrative-focused Avengers game. Though fans had hoped for another single-player experience, the concept of playing as Earth's Mightiest Heroes alongside friends did make sense, and it had some real potential. However, when Square Enix and Crystal Dynamics released the Marvel's Avengers open beta just before its release, anticipation took a nose-dive.
For the last two years, some Marvel's Avengers fans have wondered just when Crystal Dynamics and Square Enix would pull the plug on the game. The initial backlash was monumental, and it greatly affected sales of the game, but as is the core issue with the live-service approach, once a developer has chosen it, the studio is forced to keep creating content for the game even if it's already been deemed a failure. Despite Crystal Dynamics' best efforts, Marvel's Avengers never managed to live up to its potential, and now it's finally been allowed to step away from the failed project.
Marvel's Avengers will receive its last update on March 31, 2023. As of the time of writing, Crystal Dynamics has not confirmed everything that be included in this final patch. For the last two years, fans have been repeatedly told that traversal changes will be coming to Marvel's Avengers, such as speed boosts for Iron Man and Thor during flight, and increased sprint speed for Captain America and Black Panther. Some sources claim that this final update could bring these long-waited changes, but for now it's possible that this last patch is just a simple balancing update that tweaks a few heroes' stats for the last time.
As soon as the March 31 2.8 update goes live for Marvel's Avengers, Crystal Dynamics is also making every Marvel's Avengers cosmetic free for any player who owns a copy of the game. While those who have already dropped a ton of cash for cosmetics might feel a little cheated by this, Crystal Dynamics is apparently doing this to thank its player-base for sticking around. It's a nice final touch from the developer, but it'll mark a bittersweet moment for Marvel's Avengers, a game which promised so much, and delivered so little.
Marvel’s Avengers is available on PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S, but will no longer be purchasable after September 30, 2023.
