With Kate Bishop recently arriving to Marvel’s Avengers and the original Hawkeye Clint Barton joining the roster soon, Crystal Dynamics seems to be taking major steps toward righting the ship. However, while the game seems to be in a good place at the start of 2021, its rebuilding process could be hitting a major road bump soon. Though discussions have died down regarding the exclusivity of Spider-Man, they could soon start back up with the character’s rumored release date quickly approaching.
While the fanbase for Marvel’s Avengers was quick to let Square Enix know of the problems with hero exclusivity when news first broke, the issue has become more problematic as time has gone on. Not only is Spider-Man’s exclusivity problematic due to how much of the game’s potential playerbase will be missing out on the content, but the current state of the game makes its release even more frustrating. When Spider-Man arrives, his debut could prove to be a double-edged sword that stops Marvel’s Avengers’ rise from the ashes dead in its tracks.
The Original Issue
Marvel’s Avengers is set to introduce a self-contained story arc for Spider-Man, and the announcement of the character’s arrival should have been thrilling news for players on all platforms. Instead, PlayStation fans were the only ones that had the chance to get excited, as it was revealed that those on Sony platforms would have exclusive access to the character. The news came as a crushing blow to those on PC and Xbox, as players did not expect to see such major content locked behind one platform.
With Spider-Man’s upcoming DLC confirmed to only be on PlayStation, though, players on two of the game’s three platforms had to come to terms with the idea that they would be missing out on extra content. While the news was originally disappointing, as fans wondered about which member of Spidey’s rogue’s gallery that they would be missing out on fighting, Spider-Man’s loyalty to the PlayStation brand is about to become a bigger problem. With Marvel’s Avengers still in desperate need of more content, a fully exclusive character could not be a more untimely addition to the game.
An Evolving Problem
Square Enix has shared that the plan to save Marvel’s Avengers relies heavily on more post-launch content, though Spider-Man’s PlayStation exclusivity is a direct contrast to this strategy. If the DLC is filled with content and serves as a major release that is on a larger scale than Kate Bishop’s expansion, then Peter Parker’s appearance will only help mend the game’s content problem on a single platform. With the best scenario being a revival of Marvel’s Avengers on one third of its platforms, the Spider-Man DLC will only put a band-aid over the problem.
Another likely scenario is that an appearance from Marvel’s most iconic hero is not enough to bring Marvel’s Avengers back from the brink. While Kate Bishop’s DLC adds a solid story and a fun playable character to the mix, it is only continuing to provide more of what works about the base game — failing to fix Marvel’s Avengers’ core problems. If Spider-Man’s content follows a similar pattern, the expansion could simply be a fun, one-and-done set of missions that players complete once and move on from completely. While Spider-Man could bring more replayable and diverse missions along with him, it seems unlikely that this will be the case.
Another negative blow to the game's reputation is likely to arrive with the release of Spider-Man, and with 2021 being a big year for Marvel’s Avengers, hopefully the exclusive DLC is not a nail in the coffin for the game. However, with the possible options being an average expansion that changes nothing about the game’s current state, or an excellent bit of post-launch content that improves Marvel’s Avengers for only a portion of the player base, it is hard to see a scenario where the PlayStation exclusive DLC is received warmly by gamers.
Marvel's Avengers is out now on PC, PlayStation 4, Stadia, and Xbox One, with PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X versions currently in development.