Marvel's Avengers: Live Service Game is lacking success and being discontinued

0
69

Square Enix is ​​stopping further development of Marvel's Avengers after a recent update. This also shuts down the payment shop in the game, converts credits, and a number of cosmetic extras become free. Square Enix doesn't say a word about the reasons. But they are also so clear: The live service game lacked success.

Marvel's Avengers will be updated again on March 31, but no longer expanded. Version 2.7, which was rolled out in November, is the last content update. Version 2.8 makes final balancing changes in March and prepares for end of support. All support for the game will end on September 30th.

Single and multiplayer content can still be played afterwards. Square Enix “does not guarantee that problems arising from unforeseen circumstances” will be resolved, and expressly makes no guarantees that they will. Bug fixes are only promised until September.

Purchase system will be deleted

The 2.8 update will also remove credits from the game. The premium currency, which could previously be bought for euros, will then neither be sold nor redeemed. Existing credit balances are automatically converted into in-game resources. At the same time, the marketplace for skins and co will be switched off.

Purchase currency is automatically converted to Resources swapped (Picture: Square Enix)

All Marketplace content as well as items from Challenge Maps and Deliveries will then be available to all players free of charge. This includes outfits, takedowns, and emotes, among others.

No ideas, no players

The step is vaguely justified at best. According to the publisher, “in agreement with our partners, now is the right time” to “make this change”. But why is obvious anyway. Even at launch, “generic” was still one of the more positive adjectives used to describe Marvel's Avengers; the title was also called uninspired and interchangeable. The fact that progression was initially slowed down so as not to confuse players – according to Square Enix – but then boosters were sold did not increase the fun. Basically, Marvel's Avengers felt like what happens when development focuses on a financial and sales concept, not so much the entertainment product.

Player numbers are falling towards zero (Image: Steam Charts)

There have been significant improvements, they say ratings are indicative, not; on Steam, 67 percent of all ratings from the last 30 days are positive, the overall average since September 2020 is the same. The number of players fell quickly after the release and from then on steadily towards zero. Most recently, the number of players on a 30-day average was only slightly above that of the purely single-player title Marvel's Guardian of the Galaxy, which cannot or does not want to bind its buyers in the long term. In view of these numbers and the small number of potential customers for additional purchases, further development no longer makes any sense.

New: the CB radio podcast!
For those who have always wondered how it's ticking in the heads behind ComputerBase, this is the place to be. Also on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Deezer and as an RSS feed.