Hey you can actually use all the content now
Marvel’s Avengers came, went; and then somehow went again shortly after every “major” periodic content patch. No matter how much content the team added it just was never enough: namely because there was no real connection to the story, many of those content additions were reskins, and the game never truly shed its live service component. Also, dangling Spider-Man over people’s heads (as an exclusive no less!) probably wasn’t the best idea from whoever was responsible (from the top to the bottom).
The newest (and final) game-is-dead patch changes all that. And of course, while it’s too late for Avengers, we can still check out its current state for fun and use it as a case study of what not to do.
Just look at how live servicey this game was/is – look at it!
As a recap, Crystal Dynamics and Square Enix announced that after two and a half years, Marvel’s Avengers live service experience was effectively dead (also known as “maintenance mode’), but would shamble on until September. That promised final patch arrived this past weekend and actually unlocked all the game’s content (read: premium stuff included) for free. That includes the entire marketplace, challenge cards, and shipment cosmetics. All free. After re-installing the game on PS5 at a whopping 115.8 GB ask (I nearly didn’t do it!) the first thing I did was look at how many skins the game had: and man, I was not prepared.
Nearly every single character had truckloads of premium skins that are now unlocked that you can just use. On the flip side, all of those skins are unlocked to use, all of the streamlined grind-curbing patches are in, and there’s some more content to peruse through. If you’re a lapsed player who dug the core story but ditched because of the microtransactions: you can safely come back in now and clean up the past few years of the game in a weekend.
I was able to change up some of the default Crystal Dynamics character designs I didn’t dig with new cosmetics, then jump into some online bouts with other players who were doing the same. It’s amazing to see how much stuff was actually gated behind paywalls, especially given the penchant for comic fans to express themselves with different eras of each hero that they personally identify with the most. It’s freeing to explore all this stuff with more quality of life upgrades and matchmaking features than ever before.
But hey, at least that batch of Verizon Avengers FIOS skins got someone some quick cash.
Will Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League suffer the same slow live service bleed out fate?
As you may know the reception to the recent Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League actual gameplay trailer was absolutely horrendous. DC and Marvel fans alike are wondering how much game there will actually be: compared to the amount of leveling and grinding that seem to be the core focus of the game.
That reception ended up resulting in a full-on delay for the game, which many pundits point out will likely not involve a full-on rework given how long that process would actually take under the hood. Until then all we can do is wait and wonder how badly another studio might muck up yet another guaranteed IP-grab because of the live-service chase.
