Marvel's Avengers has removed the paid XP boosters
A month after they were added
Marvel's Avengers came to Xbox Game Pass at the end of September. A week later, Square Enix added paid, consumable XP boosters to its in-game store, to much predictable uproar from its players.
Today, Square Enix announced that they were removing the boosters, while apologising "for not responding sooner" to players' concerns.
The announcement of their remove was made via a tweet:
"We apologize for not responding sooner to your concerns about the addition of paid consumables in the Marketplace. We introduced them as an option for an evolving player base, and did not see them as pay-to-win since they don't offer power directly," says the message.
Part of the audience's concern was that Square Enix had said during Marvel's Avengers' development that they would never add "pay-to-win" microtransactions to the game. While the paid-for consumables did not offer "power directly", they increased the rate at which players could earn XP and other in-game rewards, which feels effectively like the same thing.
That was of particular concern to some players given that the developers made levelling slower back in March 2021, proposing that making the game longer was the secret to making it more fun. Speeding it up again for those willing to pay left a bad taste.
It is worth mentioning, however, that M's A has no PvP component, and so paying only gave you an advantage over other players in your fights against computer-controlled enemies. In some respects, isn't this basically what Tony Stark does anyway?
"After considering your feedback, we have decided that by the end of today we will remove Hero's Catalysts and Fragment Extractors for purchase. They will continue to be earnable rewards and those already owned are still usable," continues the Twitter post.
While Marvel's Avengers has seemed to have a less than successful life so far, Square Enix's recently launched singleplayer Guardians Of The Galaxy game has proven a pleasant surprise. Even as it drives Ed to despair over an open fridge.