Long ago, promises were made by developer Crystal Dynamics and publisher Square Enix that "pay-to-win" mechanics would never be introduced to Marvel's Avengers. For a while, that promise was kept. Today, that promise was broken.
With the release of Marvel's Avengers on Xbox Game Pass comes a new addition to the game: Paid XP boosts.
The in-game market for Marvel's Avengers was recently updated to include XP boost consumables that can be purchased with credits. Credits can only be bought with real money. These consumables allow players to temporarily boost the amount of XP a player can earn or the amount of resources a player can collect while playing. It's a way to speed up progression. Almost like a way to pay... to... win?
This has sent fans into a bit of an angry frenzy. It was stated prior to the game's initial release that microtransactions would only ever be for cosmetic items. In a presentation made at E3 2019, senior community manager Meagan Marie said that their "promise to the community is that we won't have random loot boxes or pay-to-win scenarios."
A week later, studio head Scot Amos said the following to GI.biz:
"The idea, from the beginning, is that we want you to be able to customise your hero – how they look, how they play, the gear they have and how they use it.
“Your Black Widow could be different to my Black Widow – just a little, maybe a lot depending on what you favour and how you unlock things. In terms of how we monetise, we’ll have cosmetics. No gameplay paywalls."
“Your Black Widow could be different to my Black Widow – just a little, maybe a lot depending on what you favour and how you unlock things. In terms of how we monetise, we’ll have cosmetics. No gameplay paywalls."
"We’ve committed that content purchasable with real money in Marvel’s Avengers will be aesthetic-only additions, which will ensure we can keep the game fresh for years to come."
The writing seems to have been on the wall that this might happen for a little while now. In March 2021, an update to the game made it so that you needed to earn more XP in order to level up. At the time, it was said that the game had "pacing issues" and that skill points were "being rewarded too fast, which may be confusing and overwhelming to newer players."
The game's dwindling fanbase took to Reddit to voice their frustrations. The Marvel's Avengers subreddit has a number of people voicing their anger and disappointment in this new move.
"Uninstalled today. Don’t think I’ll worry about coming back for spider man either. Can’t be bothered to support a company with 0 integrity. Will not purchase another Crystal Dynamics game again."
"Lol. Maybe, just maybe this will wake everyone up to what a shit show this game is."
"Lol. Maybe, just maybe this will wake everyone up to what a shit show this game is."
