Avengers game ending support in 2023

The game’s developers have said they won’t be adding any new content, and that support will end entirely later this year.

Crystal Dynamics has announced that it will no longer support Marvel’s Avengers following the embattled multiplayer game’s next update in March.

The next update for the game is due to release on March 31, 2023, but Crystal Dynamics has said that the update won’t add any new features or content. The last new content added to the game was in November 2022, when Winter Soldier and Omega Threat were added to the game.

Marvel’s Avengers was developed by Tomb Raider developer Crystal Dynamics and published by Square Enix in 2020. The game was released to middling reviews from both critics and players, who criticised the game for its repetitive gameplay and lacklustre multiplayer elements.

The game experienced a significant drop in player base in the weeks following its launch, with many criticising Crystal Dynamics for being slow to fix issues and roll out new content. It has since had multiple content updates, but few made much of an impact on the game’s player base, which has remained low.

Many praised Marvel's Avengers for its storytelling, but its gameplay left players bored. Picture: Crystal Dynamics

According to the blog post detailing the future of Marvel’s Avengers, all support for the game will end on September 20, 2023, after which it will receive no new updates, any remaining bugs will remain unfixed, and the game will no longer be available for purchase.

Crystal Dynamics says that players will still be able to access single-player and multiplayer content, even after support ends, but that it can’t guarantee it will remain playable forever. It also says that players who have trouble accessing the game will be out of luck, as the company will no longer be responding to support requests.

The game’s cosmetics marketplace will also be closing down after the update in March, and in-game credits will no longer be able to be purchased either. Thankfully, players won’t have much need for credits, which are primarily used to buy cosmetics, because the March update will also make all marketplace, shipment, and challenge card cosmetics available to players for free. Refunds won’t be given to players who previously purchased credits or cosmetics, however.

Despite multiple content updates, Marvel’s Avengers failed to make an impact. Picture: Square Enix

Crystal Dynamics was previously a subsidiary of Square Enix, but was sold off to Embracer Group last year alongside a host of other Western Square Enix studios. Embracer shut down one of the recently bought studios just a few months after the purchase, with over 200 employees affected by the decision.

On the other side of things, Square Enix doubled down on NFT games, saying that it’s “most focused on blockchain entertainment” going forward. Shortly after the sale of Crystal Dynamics, the company said it would be using money from the sale to invest into NFT development.

Written by Oliver Brandt on behalf of GLHF.