Marvel's Avengers broke a signficant pre-release promise when it added paid consumables to its Marketplace. Before Hero's Catalysts and Fragment Extractors were added, Marvel's Avengers had previously promised players that the Marketplace would only enforce purchases for skin cosmetics, with nothing included that could potentially affect gameplay.
Hero's Catalysts and Fragment Extractors are two types of XP boosters in Marvel's Avengers that players earn through gameplay. However, Hero's Catalysts and Fragment Extractors were surprisingly added to Marvel's Avengers' Marketplace, where these consumables now offered players the opportunity to circumvent or omit the alternative grind that would otherwise be necessary for players to level up their characters. Fortunately, Marvel's Avengers players' shared resentment and disapproval has now been heard.
Marvel's Avengers shares that by end of day today these paid consumables that were previously added to the Marketplace will be removed henceforth. Marvel's Avengers' decision to remove them was considered as a result of the community's outcry toward these resources and the "pay-to-win" model that it may have influenced, but Crystal Dynamics and Square Enix claim that this was an inadvertent circumstance. Regardless, Marvel's Avengers will revert to its previous, non-pay-to-win structure after today, which has pleased many players.
Crystal Dynamics and Square Enix's rocky launch of Marvel's Avengers was not without its Marketplace woes, but their promise at E3 2019 of microtransactions as exclusive to cosmetics was a marketable selling point that fans could rally behind. Indeed, in Marvel's Avengers' E3 2019 presser, it was promised that Marvel's Avengers would not have "random loot boxes or pay-to-win scenario," which caused excited players to cheer.
But disappointment within the community also stems from this being the first statement that has been offered since these paid resources were added. Marvel's Avengers' supposed lack of acknowledgement concerned players further, as if the team did not see or care for the community's response to this choice. Of course, with XP boosters added to the Marketplace, it seems as though Square Enix had to have known that this decision would have resulted in at least the insinuation of a new pay-to-win structure that was not originally there.
Marvel's Avengers' devoted playerbase is ultimately pleased with this news, though the reparation may need time before trust is restored. The withdrawal of Hero's Catalysts and Fragment Extractors has already gone a long way to restore the community's faith in the game since it demonstrates that their concerns and opinions are in fact listened to and valued.
Marvel's Avengers is out now for PC, PS4, PS5, Stadia, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X.