‘Marvel Heroes’ Shutting Down In December After Disney, Marvel End Relationship With Developer [Updated]
After a precarious four years of operation, action RPG Marvel Heroes is closing. The game is shutting down after Disney and Marvel end their relationship with the game’s developer, Gazillion Entertainment. The free-to-play title released in 2013 on PC and was rebranded several times. Marvel Heroes Omega, as it is currently named, also released on PlayStation 4 and Xbox One in June of this year.
Players learned the fate of the superhero title via communications between a Marvel representative and Kotaku. The representative told the website that Marvel Heroes games will be closed but provided no end date for operations. At the time of this writing, players can still purchase Gs with real money and the store is still operational.
About a month of silence from the game’s developer implied that the health of Marvel Heroes was wavering. As Massively OP reported, developers of the game were uncharacteristically quiet for weeks amid controversy over the current Gazillion Entertainment CEO. Planned events never occurred and Marvel Heroes updates stopped happening.
An announcement from Gazillion Entertainment has not been made nor does the game’s website currently mention the shutdown. Right now, the game on PC, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One can still be accessed. There is no word on how or when the game will be sunset. It is possible that no event will occur before the servers abruptly come down.
Marvel Heroes features over 60 playable Marvel characters on the PC version of the game. The free-to-play title features many costumes, boosts, and Team-Ups players can buy from the in-game store with real money. Heroes and Team-Ups can be earned by playing through the collection of Eternity Splinters from foes.
On PC, the game launched with rocky beginnings only to seemingly stabilize post-launch. By the time the Marvel Heroes 2015 rebranding took place, the game saw a steady population of around 2,000 players each month according the Steam Charts website. In 2016, the game was renamed once again to Marvel Heroes 2016 and in January 2017, the game’s “biggest update ever” changed many core features of the game.
As the Inquisitr reported, changes in the 2.0 update included major movement changes like making players wind up their travel power. Adding charges with cooldowns to dash and teleport powers also changed the core gameplay of Marvel Heroes. Three months after the update released on PC, console versions of the game were announced.
In June, 2017, Marvel Heroes Omega released on PlayStation 4 and Xbox One. The new systems and movement changes thrust upon the PC version were well intact on the console version of the game. However, Marvel Heroes on console is monetized a bit differently. Players cannot outright buy costumes they want and instead must buy randomized loot boxes containing their preferred costume. Players can still earn heroes with Eternity Splinters, though.
Although the action RPG is just months old on PlayStation 4 and Xbox One, these versions and the PC client of Marvel Heroes Omega are shutting down soon.
Update: Gazillion Entertainment developers posted on the game’s forums that the game will shut down on December 31. Using real money to purchase Gs will be unavailable soon and everything in the game will be free for the duration of the sunset process.
[Featured Image by Gazillion Entertainment]
