We’ve known since January 2023 that Square Enix’s failed live-service superhero RPG Marvel’s Avengers would be pulled from life support on September 30th. Back then, developer Crystal Dynamics announced that all cosmetics would be “made available to all players for free” once the game’s final update rolled around. Well, the time has come, y’all. Friday marked the final balance changes and gameplay tweaks to Marvel’s Avengers, meaning you can finally enjoy the loot-driven RPG without all the microtransactional junk.
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READ ALSO: Marvel’s Avengers Ends Development And Gives Away Cosmetics
Marvel’s Avengers was released on last-gen consoles and Stadia (RIP) in September 2020 before making the jump to current-gen systems in March 2021. Marvel’s Avengers is an action-adventure game from rebooted Tomb Raider creators Crystal Dynamics. Marvel’s Avengers, a live-service project that saw Earth’s Mightiest Heroes reunited to put an end to megalomaniacal tech company Advanced Idea Mechanics (AIM), was generally dragged out at launch, scoring 67 on Metacritic and 68 on Open Critic. In Kotaku’s review of the game, the late Mike Fahey called it “one of the best comic book games” he’s ever played, while also criticizing it for its tricky progression systems and excessive monetization practices.
The game didn’t last long for this world, however. Square Enix announced in a January 20 blog post that update 2.8 will be the final patch of Marvel’s Avengers, with official support for the game ending on September 30. Yes, you can still play both single and multiplayer, although no future updates are coming. But the most exciting news about this stupid announcement is that since it’s officially dying to some extent, pretty much every cosmetic item from the in-game store – from emotes to takedowns to outfits – is being given away for free.
The marketplace has (mostly) been unlocked
Square Enix made the announcement on the game’s Twitter account, saying that the “March 31 2.8 update will unlock almost all Marketplace items for free.” The “almost everything” is a bit sus, but a click through to the patch notes via the game’s website reveals exactly which items will be free with this latest update.
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According to the patch notes, “almost all MCU and non-MCU inspired outfits, emotes, takedowns, and nametags are automatically available to you.” That means cool costumes, including Black Panther’s Son of T’Chaka attire and Black Widow’s Widow 1998 outfit, are now free for the low price of $99. Anything that can be earned through the Lootbox-like Shipments and Battle Pass-like Challenge Cards will also be “auto-granted” when you update the game. Unfortunately, items you earn through campaign progression or purchase in the Marketplace would still be acquired this way. But everything else you can customize with heroes. Whatever existing credits you may keep, some in-game currency that you would purchase with IRL money has been converted to resources to be spent Meanwhile, there is 1.5x multiplayer for XP and Fragments, another in-game currency used to upgrade gear and buy on the Marketplace has been permanently enabled Square Enix is also giving players something special …
For people who have been playing Marvel’s Avengers since launch as well as those who played before 1 a gift. You’ve seen this suit before. It’s the same one War Machine wears in all of the MCU movies. A dark rendition of Tony Stark’s main armor, this suit behaves similarly to Iron Man’s main suit in-game. While it doesn’t add any gameplay differences, it looks sick on the body.
Read more: Marvel’s Avengers Dies, But Spider-Man Remains Trapped on PlayStation
You may be wondering what this means for Spider-Man. Well, as Square Enix has already made clear, the Webslinger will remain exclusive to PlayStation. This is crazy, but I think making almost every cosmos free is good consolation for having one of the best Avengers locked on a specific platform. It’s just a shame that hardly anyone gets into Marvel’s Avengers anymore. At least you can play it in single player mode. We’ll take those silver linings.
