Paid consumable items have been added to the Marvel's Avengers marketplace, despite developers promising to only sell cosmetic skins, and fans are outraged. The superhero slugfest, developed by Crystal Dynamics, launched back in September 2020 to lackluster reception. Marvel's Avengers recently came to Xbox Game Pass, with the subscription service opening the game up to a wider audience of gamers.
Marvel's Avengers features a mix of free expansions and paid content, with new heroes and questlines being free for all users. So far the title has received three new Avengers in the form of Kate Bishop, Hawkeye, and Black Panther, with each superhero coming with its own storyline. New locations and villains are also featured in these free Operations, with Kate Bishop facing off against the Super-Adaptoid while Hawkeye travels an apocalyptic future and faces the Hulk's future identity of Maestro. Black Panther's War for Wakanda expansion launched in August, serving as the game's latest and largest expansion to date. Meanwhile, the game's Marketplace contains an ever-growing lineup of cosmetic items, with these skins being the only content that can be bought using real-world money.
Unfortunately, Marvel's Avengers has now stocked its Marketplace with various consumable items, which the developers previously promised to never do, and fans are not happy. October 7 saw the Marketplace updated with a slew of paid consumable items, which players can buy in order to increase the amount of experience or resources they gain during play. Players, such as Reddit users Saud_Njmh, iCoreyTimmons, and Billyb311 were quick to point out Crystal Dynamics' promise that only cosmetics would be purchased using real-world currency. Some particularly critical players noticed that Crystal Dynamics recently reduced the amount of experience players earn in-game, which may be an underhanded way to make players purchase consumable boosters. Crystal Dynamics has not yet addressed the backlash.
Crystal Dynamics has also seemingly doubled-down on creating cosmetic items for Marvel's Avengers, with no actual new content releasing since August's War for Wakanda. Many of these cosmetic items are highly-requested Marvel Cinematic Universe skins, which the superhero action game launched without. Captain America's Avengers: Infinity War suit is the latest live-action wardrobe to appear in the game, with the rate of MCU cosmetic releases growing steadily in the past months. Favoring paid skins over free content is another indication that Crystal Dynamics' priorities lie in Marvel's Avenger's Marketplace.
After a highly criticized first year for Marvel's Avengers, adding pay-to-win consumables to the Marketplace may serve as a nail in the game's coffin. Crystal Dynamics has repeatedly denied that in-game boosters would be sold, with players only paying for cosmetic suits. Now some players even believe that the developer lowered the rate that experience is gained specifically to motivate the sale of XP boosters, which is sure to damage the title's reputation even further.
Marvel's Avengers is available on PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, PC, and Google Stadia.
Source: Marvel's Avengers, Saud_Njmh/Reddit, iCoreyTimmons/Reddit, Billyb311/Reddit