Marvel’s Avengers, the live service video game featuring the world’s most famous superheroes, just added the option to let people spend real money to progress faster in-game.
The move has angered fans, especially since the game’s developers previously said it was something they wouldn’t do. Also, so-called “pay-to-win” systems are generally frowned upon, especially for tent-pole releases like this one.
The Square Enix and Crystal Dynamics title, which was originally released in September of last year, was recently added to the Xbox Game Pass library. Developers added the ability for players to buy consumables for temporary XP boosts with credits. Credits that cost real money to buy.
Essentially, players who wish to shell out the dough will progress faster and get more of an advantage than players who don’t.
“Our promise to the community is that we won’t have random loot boxes or pay-to-win scenarios,” senior community manager Meagan Maries said at E3 in 2019. People in the audience cheered.
Studio head Scot Amos also said something similar, promising that real money would only be used to change a character’s look, not their stats.
In March of this year, the developer stymied progression speed. Many fans said this shows that the change was planned for a while now.
At the time, Crystal Dynamics said that the way players progressed before “led to pacing issues, such as skill points currently being rewarded too fast, which may be confusing and overwhelming to newer players.” Apparently not an issue when payment is involved.
One Reddit user said that it’s more the playing fans for fools part that bothers them.
Another said the change was a long time coming.
Twitter was similarly ablaze with outright fury.
Square Enix and Crystal Dynamics have yet to comment on the situation.