After a period of backlash, Marvel's Avengers will remove paid consumable boosters from its in-game Marketplace. Since its launch, the multiplayer superhero experience has been supported with additional free content - such as new heroes, storylines, and paid cosmetic items. However, Marvel's Avengers recently added paid consumable items, breaking a promise made by developer Crystal Dynamics and seemingly creating a pay-to-win scenario.
Before launch Crystal Dynamics announced plans to continuously release new content for Marvel's Avengers over time, including free expansions and paid cosmetics. The developer explicitly stated that the game's Marketplace would only sell cosmetic items, such as skins and nameplates, in order to avoid a pay-to-win situation where paying players have an advantage. Then, at the beginning of October, paid consumables were added - which boost the amount of resources players can earn during gameplay. This led to a large outcry from the Marvel's Avengers fanbase, especially after experience gain greatly reduced earlier in 2021. Marvel's Avengers ignored the pay-to-win controversy for some time, first avoiding social media and then refusing to release a statement regarding the backlash.
Now, Marvel's Avengers officially announced that all paid consumables will be removed from the Marketplace on November 2. The Hero's Catalyst and Fragment Extractor items will still be present in-game, but they will be earned as rewards rather than purchased. The developer's message explains that the paid boosters were not considered pay-to-win items before release, but player response has motivated their immediate removal. Crystal Dynamics states that the boosters' removal will hopefully be a step towards rebuilding the player base's confidence in the game.
While paid consumables are undergoing removal from the Marvel's Avengers Marketplace, new cosmetic items are still revealed quite frequently. The game was originally launched without any skins based on the Marvel Cinematic Universe, but Earth's Mightiest Heroes' live-action designs are now the game's most popular skins. Iron Man 2's Suitcase Armor was recently added to the game, allowing players to recreate the 2010 film's iconic racetrack scene. The game's highly accurate and exceptionally detailed MCU skins are seen by many as a legitimate way for Marvel's Avengers to include microtransactions, in contrast to the pay-to-win accusations leveled at its paid consumables.
In its first year since release, Marvel's Avengers has taken quite a large number of missteps. The game continues to receive criticism for a lack of endgame content, and the recent paid consumable controversy has made microtransaction criticisms even more widespread. However, removing paid consumables from the Marketplace and communicating clearly with the player base are smart moves for Crystal Dynamics. Time will tell whether the game is able to continue improving for the better, but this announcement suggests that the future of Marvel's Avengers and its fanbase is still yet to take shape.
Marvel's Avengers is available on PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, PC and Google Stadia.
Source: Marvel's Avengers/Twitter
source https://screenrant.com/marvels-avengers-microtransactions-remove-controversy-paid-crystal-dynamics/
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