They say that the road to the underworld is paved with good intentions. No matter the brand of media, if you go into something trying to do something big, revolutionary, and unlike what has come before, you run the risk of it backfiring on you and being labeled a failure. Many were excited when Marvel’s Avengers was first announced at E3 years ago. We had been in a renaissance of superhero titles, and many felt this could be the next expansion of that. However, from the moment the game was unveiled in full, problems were seen, and it didn’t stop until the game ceased getting support.
That support ended not too long ago, and as noted by groups like Forbes, it was a conclusion that many could see coming from a mile away.
From the launch trailer, the models for the characters felt off. Then, when we saw the gameplay, we wondered if we would actually “feel like an Avenger” or if it would simply be us switching from character to character and learning their movesets. The latter would eventually be proven to be the truth.
Then, there was the live-service model, something that many feel is plaguing the video game industry because they’re focused on microtransactions and “continuous paid support” versus making a solid game at the start and maybe expanding upon it later with DLC. The things you could get through the live-service options were, more times than not, cosmetics, and they would be priced incredibly high in the game’s store.
Adding to the game’s woes was the launch, which saw the game poorly received by critics and fans and the title littered with bugs. So many bugs were in the game that Square Enix/Crystal Dynamics had to drop a patch that fixed 1000 bugs in one shot. Think about that. Think about leaving in 1000 bugs for a AAA title years in development and hoping that players either wouldn’t notice or wouldn’t affect the game that much. Hint: it didn’t go as they hoped.
That’s not to say that the game was a complete failure. On the contrary, many felt the story was fine and the that the DLC was arguably the best part of the game, especially the DLC with Black Panther, Kate Bishop, and more.
But to make a great game and to build off titles that came with Batman and Spider-Man, you need more than a great story and DLC. Marvel’s Avengers had problems from the get-go, and now, it’ll be remembered for the mess it was versus the game it could’ve been.
