Marvel’s Avengers, the video game made by Crystal Dynamics, is having its last run with an incredible mega-sale.
Marvel’s Avengers was originally launched in 2020 and came to the PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, Windows on Steam, and even on Google Stadia, which itself was discontinued before this game.
Square Enix’s bold play to license Marvel for Disney was intended to expand the company’s reach beyond their hardcore fanbase, that religiously follows their releases of Final Fantasy games. With that goal in mind, they delegated the task to Crystal Dynamics, the California based game company that was making Tomb Raider games at this point.
While Square Enix’s logic that a US based studio would make a better Avengers game than they could was sound, many of their other choices turned out to be huge mistakes, that ultimately doomed the project.
For example, the choice to not make this a simple single player experience, and instead turn it into a live service game, was received very badly. The fact that that also included microtransactions made it worse in the eyes of fans and reviewers.
There was also a seeming rush to release the game, given that it had so many bugs and glitches at launch. To a certain degree, there was also controversy over the offputting likenesses of MCU actors, because Crystal Dynamics couldn’t license their actual faces.
Unfortunately, the most damning problem with Marvel’s Avengers was its poor game design, that proved to not be compelling enough to get gamers who already paid full price to keep playing.
The consequences for the critical and commercial failure of Marvel’s Avengers were literally industry changing. Crystal Dynamics is now owned by Embracer, and their property Tomb Raider is now owned by Amazon. Square Enix itself recently suffered a staggering $ 2 billion loss in market value, as the company faces criticisms for poor management.
But all of this takes us to today, where there is some good news to share about Marvel’s Avengers. As reported by Video Games Chronicle, the game is now down to $ 3.99, across Steam, PlayStation Store, and Xbox Store.
Some of you may have guessed that the reason for this. And that would be because Marvel’s Avengers is finally getting delisted, with the licensing deal finally running out.
While Marvel’s Avengers will clearly never make its money back, perhaps it can still redeem itself in this major game sale. Today it is listed as Marvel’s Avengers Definitive Edition, meaning everything that was originally a microtransaction is now unlocked and bundled in.
Even if you ultimately decide that Marvel’s Avengers isn’t a good game, it’ll still be a good deal at $ 3.99. The least the game’s developers would want to hear, is that you enjoyed it, even if only because you got it cheap.
