Marvel's Avengers adds paid XP boosts after slowing leveling and promising cosmetic-only microtransactions

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New heroes and other playable content are still free

Marvel's Avengers
(Image credit: Square Enix)

Marvel's Avengers now includes microtransactions for in-game boosts, contradicting a pre-launch pledge to only sell optional cosmetic content.

The addition of the new boost items, which can be used to temporarily increase the amount of XP or resources you receive from completing in-game activities, was initially reported by VGC. Giving players the option to purchase temporary in-game boons like these is common for games with microtransactions, so it isn't unusual to see on its own.

However, the addition runs counter to assurances that the game will only ever sell aesthetic content, as stated in this Marvel's Avengers blog post from August 2020 that laid out how gear and cosmetics would work: "We’ve also committed that content purchasable with real money in Marvel’s Avengers will be aesthetic-only additions, which will ensure we can keep the game fresh for years to come. The fight against AIM is only just beginning, there is much more story and many more heroes on the horizon."

You could argue that the boosts aren't really "content" themselves, but it still runs counter to previous developer pledges that the game would never have "pay-to-win scenarios," as VGC points out. The addition of boosts follows an earlier change to Marvel's Avengers which made leveling up characters require more XP starting in March, with the developers saying the earlier progression system "led to pacing issues." It's entirely possible that these two changes to the game are unrelated, but it's still a pretty bad look.

Connor Sheridan
Connor Sheridan

I got a BA in journalism from Central Michigan University - though the best education I received there was from CM Life, its student-run newspaper. Long before that, I started pursuing my degree in video games by bugging my older brother to let me play Zelda on the Super Nintendo. I've previously been a news intern for GameSpot, a news writer for CVG, and was formerly a staff writer at GamesRadar.