To help pass the time between releases of Marvel movies, fans of the characters have a few different options: the comic books (of course), TV shows like Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., and even Facebook games. Marvel: Avengers Alliance was released in 2012 and, by the time Marvel: Avengers Alliance 2 came along in March 2012, the first game had attracted over 70 million players. The free-to-play turn-based role-playing game casts players in the role of a newly recruited S.H.I.E.L.D. agent, and allows them to team up with any two characters from a roster of over 100 Marvel superheroes.

There's bad news this week for avid Avengers Alliance players, particularly those who have spent a lot of money in-game purchases, as Disney has announced that both games will be shut down at the end of September.

The announcement on Facebook has so far elicited more than 4400 angry face emojis and 3100 sad face emojis. Some fans begged Disney to release an offline version of the game, many expressed disappointment and anger at the decision, while others simply thanked Playdom and Disney Interactive for the game and shared their own experiences with it. Here is the official word on when and why the Avengers: Alliance games are being shut down:

Today we are announcing the shutdown of Marvel: Avengers Alliance and Marvel: Avengers Alliance 2 on all platforms, including the App Store, Google Play, Amazon Appstore, Windows Phone Store, and Facebook. Beginning today, we are no longer accepting new purchases or downloads, but the games will be available to play until September 30, 2016.

The decision was difficult to make, but we feel it’s best to focus our energy and resources into making new games and digital experiences for our fans and community. As always, we use our portfolio of brands to differentiate our content, and we seek to develop the most creative and innovative products in the world. We greatly appreciate all of the amazing engagement, passion and commitment to our game.

Marvel Avengers Alliance 2 artwork

Hopefully the explanation from Disney is an indication that a new Marvel-related mobile and Facebook game will be along soon to take the place of Avengers Alliance (perhaps with a title that reflects the fact that the Avengers' alliance is broken at the moment), but it may be hampered by the ill feeling that this sudden announcement has generated.

In the meantime, there are just a few weeks left to enjoy these two games before they disappear for good, so if you haven't tried them out yet then there's no time like the present. Just don't go making any big investments.

Marvel: Avengers Alliance and Marvel: Avengers Alliance 2 will cease to be available on all platforms as of September 30th, 2016.

Source: Disney