Marvel’s Avengers Introduces Paid XP Boosts and Fans Aren’t Happy

Square Enix and Crystal Dynamics have added the option to purchase XP and Resource Gathering boosts using real money marvel’s avengers. One novelty is little appreciated by fans, who believe it goes against previous claims about the game’s monetization strategy.

Marvel’s Avengers recently arrived on Xbox Game Pass and has likely gained new players. For already existing players, however, improvements in the game’s visibility and popularity were followed by the dire reality of consumables that paid for credits that could only be obtained with real money.

As VGC writes, new in-game consumables can be purchased to temporarily increase the amount of XP and benefits players gain while playing. Overall, it allows you to progress faster – as long as you are willing to pay.

This change of direction angered fans on Marvel’s Avengers subreddit, with many picking up on previous promises that the game would never introduce a pay-to-win system.

Prior to the title’s release, studio boss Scott Amos discussed in-game monetization with GamesIndustry.biz, saying, “How are we going to monetize, we’ll have cosmetics.” No paywall for gameplay. Picked up by the subreddit, a blog post written in September 2020 on the game’s site echoed the statement, “We promise that the real-money purchasable content in Marvel’s Avengers will be simply aesthetic.”

While some members of the gaming community have expressed their anger at the move, others aren’t particularly surprised — the changes have been anticipated since XP progressed earlier in the year. “We saw this coming 7 months ago, when they discontinued XP,” explains user echild07.

Anticipated or not, it looks like the developers’ decision to renegotiate the strategy is going too far for some. “Uninstalled today. I don’t think I will even come back for Spider-Man,” explains one user. “I am not going to support a company with 0 integrity. I will never buy a Crystal Dynamics product again.”

Spider-Man DLC is slated for PlayStation later this year, and a recent announcement made it clear that it will include more story and cutscenes with the character’s arrival in Marvel’s Avengers.


Irvan Lafleuriel is the editor-in-chief of IGN France. A video game slave for 40 years, he survives only occasionally to mourn his loss Twitter.

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