After one long year of trudging along, Square Enix’s Crystal Dynamics’s Marvel’s Avengers is finally ending up in the all-you-can-eat digital buffet Xbox Game Pass this September 30. The base game, along with all previously released free content, War for Wakanda expansion, and any future updates for Marvel’s Avengers, all will be available to Xbox Game Pass for PC, Console, and Cloud subscribers. However, it doesn’t come with the eight cosmetic items from the digital-only Endgame Edition. And probably the PlayStation-exclusive Spider-Man character too… which apparently still hasn’t been revealed to the public since the announcement.
Once the game drops onto Game Pass, aside from playing as Iron Man, Hulk, Thor, Captain America, Black Widow, and the two Hawkeyes, you will have immediate access to Black Panther as well. There’s also a One-Year Anniversary Celebration event going on from September 30 to October 4 that gives you a Quad XP bonus. If you’ve never played the game but already subscribed to the service and can spare around 75 to 100GB, it’s not a bad time to assemble your friends and grind away the weekend.
Marvel’s Avengers was released back on September 4, 2020, after it was delayed from the initial May launch date in an attempt to polish up the game. Nevertheless, the delay failed to please both superhero fans and gaming critics. Despite the decent-looking visuals, the gameplay was thought to be pretty forgettable and had terrible optimization on PC at launch. Putting a focus on Kamala Khan, the new Ms. Marvel from the comics, instead of the more popular and mainstream Avengers heroes is also considered to be a detriment since most Marvel Cinematic Universe followers are completely unfamiliar with the character.
It was reported that it lost 96% of its player base in just two months, while content updates such as Taking A.I.M., War for Wakanda, Future Imperfect, and Cosmic Cube expansions and balancing patches to make Marvel’s Avengers endgame less grindy barely helped. Still, Square Enix is betting on the popularity of the Marvel license with its upcoming Guardian of the Galaxy game. Considering it seems to have been designed as a traditional single-player action game, Peter Quill and his galactic pals might have better luck than the Earth’s Mightiest Heroes in the future. Stay tuned at The Nerd Stash for more nerd and gaming updates.
