What you need to know
- Marvel's Avengers is a third-person action-adventure game from Crystal Dynamics and Square Enix.
- After two-and-a-half years, Marvel's Avengers is officially shutting down and being delisted from digital storefronts.
- The game's final update will arrive on March 31, 2023, and will gift all Marketplace cosmetic items to every player.
- Support will end on Sept. 30, 2023, but the game's single-and-multiplayer features will continue to function.
When it launched in 2020, Marvel's Avengers from Crystal Dynamics and Square Enix was met with mixed critical and commercial reception. While the single-player campaign was generally well received, the multiplayer aspects and progression systems were heavily criticized. After two-and-a-half years of constant support and regular updates, Marvel's Avengers is officially throwing in the towel and going end-of-life.
Announced by the Marvel's Avengers team, the game's final update is arriving on March 31, 2023. No more content is being added to the game, and the final update will instead deliver the last balancing changes and permanently deactivate the in-game Marketplace. All existing premium currency will be converted to in-game currency for players, and all cosmetic items from the Marketplace, Shipments, and Challenge Cards will be gifted to every player completely for free (there will be no refunds for past purchases). This includes any players who purchase the game at any point between now and when it's delisted.
Crystal Dynamics will continue to support Marvel's Avengers, and the game will still be available for purchase, until Sept. 30, 2023. After that point, the game will be permanently delisted from all digital storefronts, and there will no longer be avenues to seek support for game issues. Players may still be able to find physical retail copies or digital codes.
The Marvel's Avengers team has promised, however, that the game will still continue to function in its entirety after it's delisted. Servers will remain online indefinitely, and players who own the game (both physically or digitally) will be able to access all single-player and multiplayer content. Existing in-game events will rotate automatically on a two-week basis. Finally, Spider-Man is remaining exclusive to PlayStation, meaning Xbox and PC players will never be able to access that character.
If you'd like to try Marvel's Avengers for yourself, it's still available via Xbox Game Pass on Xbox consoles, Windows PCs, and Xbox Cloud Gaming. If you decide you like the game and want to own it forever, be sure to buy it before Sept. 30 (if you're subscribed to Game Pass, you should get a decent discount on the game).
Windows Central's take
While Marvel's Avengers was never considered to be one of the best Xbox games, it was still a solid "AAA" Marvel game, and it's sad to see it die. It's good that Crystal Dynamics and Square Enix aren't entirely abandoning the game, and that players will be able to continue playing the game long after it goes end-of-life, complete with all the cosmetics, although some players are likely to be frustrated when they realize that cosmetic bundle they just purchased is about to become free.
If you're hungry for a Marvel game that's universally amazing and isn't about to be deleted from digital stores, Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy is a fantastic action-adventure game devoid of the live service pitfalls that ultimately killed Marvel's Avengers. There are new Marvel titles on the horizon, too, with a game starring Captain America and Black Panther currently in development.
I'm not going to miss Marvel's Avengers... at all. To be honest, I never played it, and I don't feel like I missed out on much. Considering the game is still available through Xbox Game Pass, though, I may consider giving it a download before it officially dies to see if I want Marvel's Avengers to have a place in my library. I do feel for the Crystal Dynamics team and for the game's dedicated players, however, as it's never fun watching a product that had genuine potential see such a sudden and quick end. Marvel's Avengers wasn't long enough for this world.
At least for now, Marvel's Avengers is still available via Xbox Game Pass, PC Game Pass, and Xbox Cloud Gaming. This gives you an opportunity to play the game and decide if you want to buy it before it's delisted on Sept. 30, 2023.
