Last year's Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy game is currently full price on Steam - but purchasing it in a bundle with the divisive Marvel’s Avengers offers a huge discount, prompting fans to call out how seemingly desperate Square Enix is getting when it comes to securing fans for Avengers. Unlike Avengers, Guardians of the Galaxy earned high marks from comic book fans and gaming critics alike for its solid writing and emotional plot, which saw Peter “Star-Lord” Quill and his rag-tag team of space mercenaries confront their tragic pasts and inner demons to save the universe. While Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy sales fell short of Square Enix’s admittedly high expectations when it first launched last fall, the game’s recent inclusion in Xbox Game Pass has generated a renewed interest in the hilarious and heartwarming intergalactic title, leaving fans hoping for a follow-up.
Meanwhile, the Crystal Dynamics-developed Marvel’s Avengers has struggled to make a connection with the shared comic book/gaming audience that has been growing in the wake of AAA superhero titles like Marvel’s Spider-Man and the Batman: Arkham series. Marvel’s Avengers’ formulaic gameplay and perceived over-reliance on microtransactions did little to win players over at launch, and despite subsequent update patches and DLC expansions that brought in additional playable characters like Kate Bishop, Black Panther, and the PlayStation-exclusive Marvel's Avengers version of Spider-Man, many fans feel that there is still more room for improvement - and newcomers are still wary of picking the title up.
A new Steam discount bundles Marvel’s Avengers with the much better-received Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy, dropping the combined price of both titles by a considerable 65 percent. Reddit user RenownedDumbass took note of this new package deal in a post made on r/Steam, where they humorously begged the online storefront not to make them buy Marvel’s Avengers just to get GOTG at a discount. Other Reddit users in the comment section have chimed in to joke about how Marvel’s Avengers is “so bad they are literally paying you to get it” and counter that for all the perceived faults of Avengers’ multiplayer format, the single-player narrative can be a fun time.
This isn’t the first instance of promotional synergy between Marvel’s Avengers and Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy, as the former has offered free DLC bonuses like playable character skins based on the suits worn in Avengers: Endgame for fans who have played the latter - despite the two Marvel-based games taking place in separate continuities. However, these cross-promotional efforts and the many other DLC costumes being added to Marvel’s Avengers on a regular basis could be too little too late for the struggling superhero title. Square Enix recently sold Crystal Dynamics to Embracer Group last week, leaving the future of Marvel’s Avengers in the hands of Disney - and the game’s lackluster sales and lukewarm critical reception don’t bode well for any potential sequels or additional content.
With this in mind, it could be easy to see Steam’s recent Marvel bundle as a desperate attempt to drum up sales and interest in Marvel’s Avengers by pairing it up with the more popular Marvel’s Guardians Of The Galaxy, though it could simply be one of the package promotions of similar titles that Steam often features on its online storefront. Either way, players can now purchase Marvel’s Guardians Of The Galaxy at a hefty discount on Steam - as long as they don't mind adding Marvel’s Avengers to their game library.
Source: Steam, RenownedDumbass/Reddit