Square Enix Changes Marvel's Avengers Plans As It Struggles To Patch Its Way Forward

Marvel’s Avengers may have been the top-selling game of September, but it only took a matter of days for disappointment to settle in and mere weeks for the game’s player base to shrink. For while there was no doubt that its titular heroes gave the live service action game a lot of allure, enthusiasm for the ongoing experience has been diminished by bugs and repetitive content. 

Patches have correct many technical issues and added much needed quality of life improvements, but they haven’t altered the core of the game or remedied the hunger for more satisfying content. Wednesday’s 1.3.3 patch added a new base and high-level mission but players are still wondering when the deluxe content promised is going to arrive. Unfortunately, a recent blog post from the development team revealed that players will be waiting longer. 

Kate Bishop and Hawkeye, the first two new characters slated for late October, are being delayed, as is the Taking AIM chapter that was to introduce them. The game’s entire roadmap is being pushed back including next-gen upgrades for the game on Xbox Series devices and PlayStation 5. Instead, the upgrades will be delivered next year, to “deliver a next-gen experience showcasing all that this game is meant to be.” 

As a sign of appreciation to players, a “digital thank-you bundle” will be given to players who log in between October 22 and November 5 which includes 1500 credits (enough premium currency for a Legendary skin), 7,000 units of the game’s standard currency, 250 upgrade modules, 20 DNA Keys and a special Sarah Garza-inspired nameplate. “Because seriously, you’re the best,” in reference to a fan-favorite dialogue glitch.

By: ATW Tech - Alpha R2

As I’ve written about in our last post about Marvel’s Avengers, the game’s problems are not insurmountable but it remains to be seen whether developer Crystal Dynamics is up to the challenge of addressing the ongoing issues that several patches cannot seem to solve. As one acquaintance put it to me over Discord, “You can’t just sand the edges off those circle defense levels,” and that patches can only “make the difference between a boring game and a serviceable one.”

With many hours put into the game after I wrote our official review, I’ve reflected plenty on the game’s future. There’s very little that can be done to alter the core of the original product, but you can at least keep adding to it such that it becomes a small percentage of it. The "best" future I imagine for Avengers is not necessarily undoing questionable choices but offsetting boredom and repetition with more content and iterating new ideas for mission and character design. 

For Crystal Dynamics part, studio head Scot Amos made a strange call for sympathy from the community, invoking the pandemic and the California wildfires as unique challenges. “In our nearly 30-year history, Crystal Dynamics has never shipped a game under conditions like these,” Amos wrote. “[These challenges] instill a strength in us; to reassemble a team divided by geography and life circumstances, and come back stronger, united by a mission to do right by you.” 

The resolve of Crystal Dynamics is admirable and the olive branch of free stuff will be appreciated by some, but Marvel’s Avengers could have circumvented these challenges had they allowed themselves to delay it’s launch to less challenging times. Amos writes “It’s our opportunity to pass on that core heroes’ spirit of heart and hope, connect you with friends near and far, and inspire you to plant your feet against a sea of adversity and say, ‘No, you move.’” 

“No, you move,” is a bitterly ironic choice of words. We’ll check back on Marvel’s Avengers in 2021.

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