Marvel's Avengers Called Out by Players Over Controversial "Pay-to-Win" Update

Across Reddit, Reset Era, and Twitter, Marvel's Avengers is currently being called out by players over a controversial update to the game's marketplace. Last week, Crystal Dynamics and Square Enix inked a deal with Xbox to add the Avengers game to Xbox Game Pass and Xbox Game Pass Ultimate on Xbox One, Xbox Series S, Xbox Series X, and PC. As you would expect, the addition of the game to Xbox Game Pass has given the title a mighty injection of new players, who Crystal Dynamics and Square Enix are now trying to cash in on.

Unlike previous weeks, this week the pair were a little shy about promoting the Marketplace, and players now know why. With the new update, the game is now selling consumables, like XP and resource boosts, presumably hoping new players will pay money to cut corners. Making the optics worse for Crystal Dynamics and Square Enix is that this comes on the back of an XP nerf.

"This is the real reason they nerfed XP," said one angry fan over on Reddit about the update. "Let no one tell you otherwise. Such a disgusting company. There is no low they will not sink to, just so they can nickel and dime their customers. They know how much Marvel fans love Marvel, and love using that exploit them in every way possible. Never mind building a good relationship and goodwill with the customers, when they know the fans will be attracted to anything Marvel, like moths to a flame."

"Game needs to go free-to-play if it's gonna go down this road," added another fan, and a prominent member of the game's community, over on Twitter. "This coming straight after Tachyon nerf as well smh. Seems they are in self-destruct mode at the moment."

Over on Reset Era, fans are equally unhappy:

"I was already disgusted when they had the nerve to add $14 outfits after removing the way to earn cosmetics in game because there's supposed to be a cosmetic rework that they're working on," said one fan on the forum. "That rework is still nowhere to be seen. How you manage to f**k up an Avengers game I do not know. But somehow they managed to do it."

For now, it remains to be seen what this means for the future of the game, but many fans are worried this is a sign the game is about to go down a free-to-play and pay-to-win route. 

At the moment of publishing,  Crystal Dynamics and Square Enix haven't addressed any of this backlash. That said, this is very much a developing situation, so this might change. If it does, we will keep you in the loop with what you need to know.