‘Marvel’s Avengers’ adds paid XP boosts

Marvel’s Avengers has just added the ability to buy XP and resource boosting consumables with real money – reneging on an earlier promise to avoid this.

Square Enix and Crystal Dynamics have angered the Marvel’s Avengers fanbase by adding the option to purchase in-game boosts with real money.

These consumables, available in the game’s marketplace, give players a boost to character XP or resource collecting, and can now be purchased with credits – bought with real money.

Items such as the Hero’s Catalyst grant a temporary boost to the amount of XP gained or number of resources looted while playing. This enhances the rate at which players are able to progress through the game.

But while this may prove convenient to some, the decision to allow these consumables to be purchased with real money is seen as “pay-to-win” to others.

“Literal pay to win, just when I thought they were actually trying to make the game better,” said Avengers subreddit user steamart360. “I’m out for good.”

“Even though the champion level does not change much, this is still pay to win,” added reddit user aomarvel. “Absolute garbage and who knows how far they will take this. This is truly upsetting.”

Making matters worse, the studios have promised multiple times that microtransactions within Marvel’s Avengers would be cosmetic only.

“Content purchasable with real money in Marvel’s Avengers will be aesthetic-only additions, which will ensure we can keep the game fresh for years to come,” reads an official blog post from August.

“Your Black Widow could be different to my Black Widow – just a little, maybe a lot depending on what you favour and how you unlock things,” studio head Scott Amos told GamesIndustry.biz (via VGC). “In terms of how we monetise, we’ll have cosmetics. No gameplay paywalls.”

Some players are concerned that Marvel’s Avengers has seemingly walked back this pledge, while others claim they saw it coming. A widely-criticised XP nerf seems to have paved the way for monetisation of the levelling up process.

“They nerfed xp gain and then sell xp boosters in the shop,” said one reddit user. “They removed something from the game to sell back to us. Imagine they removed a skin you got from a mission and made you have to buy it instead.”

Meanwhile, Xbox Game Pass may be getting even more classic Xbox games.