It’s no secret that Marvel and Square Enix’s attempt to create an Avengers gaming experience that players could jump into together for years to come has not gone as planned. The “games as a service” model never really jived with fans because of how grindy the leveling system was, and catastrophic player drops are making fans question how long Avengers really has left – especially in the wake of Anthem’s fate. The biggest issue that’s put Avengers’ longevity into jeopardy though is how it’s handled its post-launch content rollout.
Downloadable content (DLC), patches, expansions, add-ons, and post-launch content can be a game changer for games and extend their lifespan from just a few dozen hours to multiple weeks, months, and even years. It’s what makes games like Fortnite, Fall Guys, and Super Smash Bros. continue to be pivotal forces in the industry years after they’ve been released. However, DLC is not just a field of dreams scenario. Just because developers build out more content, doesn’t mean players will come. That’s why great communication with fans and effective rollout strategies have become a pivotal part of DLC release. While some developers and games nail these qualities and create strong communities that thrive for years, others end up in much worse scenarios and become a case for communication and consistency being a necessary part of developers needing to make post-launch content a priority.
Frankly, “games as a service” games are the easiest place to look first when thinking about games that struggle post-launch simply because the common complaint about these games is that they severely lack content at launch. Often times, these games don’t initially come with enough meat on their bones to keep players around so having good post-launch content is vital to their survival. More often than not though, these games sadly drop the ball when it comes to delivering consistent content to keep players around and it’s not just because of COVID.
This has been an issue way before COVID with EA and Bioware’s Anthem becoming the cautionary tale for games that don’t get post-launch right. Anthem had a lot of hype going into its release, too much in my opinion, that quickly turned into uproar when players jumped in and saw the technical issues and lack of end-game content. There was a lot of talk from Bioware and EA about incoming fixes and redesigning certain aspect to improve the experience that were never consistently delivered and the overall conversation about Anthem shifted from being about when the game was going to be fixed to when it was going to be shut down. Eventually, the mistakes caught up with Anthem and it was recently announced that EA and Bioware would no longer support the game and that the planned redesign would be cancelled. Instead of being an example of how “games as a service” games can rise from rough starts, Anthem ended up being an example of the worst-case scenario.
Sadly, other games are now stuck in this trap as Cyberpunk 2077 and Avengers are currently going through some major post-launch woes. Cyberpunk’s issues have been continuously problematic ever since its disastrous launch. All the bugs, poor performance on last generation consoles, and bad news that stemmed from CD Project Red’s toxic management turned one of the most highly anticipated games of the year into an absolute disaster. Now COVID, a major data hack, and a lack of a genuine apology has put CD Project Red and Cyberpunk are in a bigger bind and while they have been trying to put out big patches to fix things, it’s far from smooth sailing. They’ve already delayed a major patch and are digging themselves into a deeper hole by releasing trailers about the next patch without any sort of release date. After all, there’s nothing that sows doubt more in the gaming community than continuously seeing trailers for something that has no release in sight.
Avengers is arguably in a worse position with its massive player drops and lackluster post-launch content have made people suspect if it will suffer the same fate as Anthem. As said before, Avengers faced a lot of issues at launch, and it didn’t handle post-launch content all that well either. Not only did they start off by basically releasing two very similar characters in Kate Bishop and Hawkeye, but these two expansions had big delays and didn’t have enough content to nourish the starving fanbase. Square Enix and Crystal Dynamics also came out saying that Black Panther and Spider-Man would eventually join the roster but did so without giving any sort of timeframe. Now anytime news comes out about the game, fans ask where Spider-Man is. It’s a classic example of promising things without establishing realistic expectations or timetables.
Frankly, while we’re on the topic of poor post-launch communication – where the hell is this Cuphead DLC? I mean The Delicious Last Course was announced all the way back in 2018 and the only news or updates we get from it is just that it’s been delayed again. The DLC is not only adding in new story content with more bosses and levels for players to dive into but also introducing a new playable character in the form of Ms. Chalice. Honestly, most people probably forgot this DLC was coming out or thought that it already did. It’s truly poor communication and lack of planning at its finest and I’m starting to think that we might never see the light of day.
Although these games are certainly in a rough spot or, in Anthem’s case, six feet under, there is a light at the end of the tunnel and plenty of games that have had a strong turnaround in their post-launch life. Bethesda was in quite a pickle with Fallout 76 since they pretty much went silent after releasing the game with minimal content that left players unsatisfied. However, through a more effective content rollout strategy and maintaining good communication with the fanbase about what they were adding/fixing and when these updates were going to come, they’ve had a big resurgence in fan support.
Small indie studio Hello Games was at an all-time low with their ambitious game No Man’s Sky when it launched as misleading marketing and lackluster mechanics made it a divisive entity in the industry as well as the subject of lawsuits. Since then, the studio has a much better relationship with fans and No Man’s Sky is seen in a much better light as they continuously release detailed patch notes that fans can see, big experiential expansions, and have even successfully relaunched on multiple platforms. Even Bungie seems to be experts at turning things around post launch with their Destiny games as they always add in new raids and major expansions to rake in the big bucks and the allure of fans.
It looks like Avengers is starting to get into a better place as well and learn from its mistakes as they recently displayed a content roadmap at Square Enix’s latest livestream presentation that goes to the summer. It even showed that Black Panther and Wakanda is the next big expansion for the game and instantly got the attention of fans still hoping that Avengers can be a better game. Admittedly though, the release dates were more like release windows and that announcement about them upping the level grinding seemed like the totally wrong move.
Look, there’s no doubt that Avengers has an immense uphill climb ahead of them, but maybe they’ aren’t one foot in the grave just yet. Perhaps they’ve learned that with great communication, effective planning, and prioritizing post-launch longevity that keeps the fans involved, Square Enix and Crystal Dynamics can still keep hope alive and work towards a better future for Avengers before it’s too late.
