Failed Avengers live service game may shut down in 2023

The failed Marvel's Avengers live game may be shut down in 2023, sources have told Exputer.

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Crystal Dynamics could stop supporting Marvel's Avengers as early as next year and possibly shut down the game servers. Announced in 2017 and then released in 2020, the Avengers live game has been problematic for developer Crystal Dynamics and publisher Square Enix, who reportedly lost $200 million on its multi-game partnership with Marvel.

Game site Exputer chronicles the trials that Crystal Dynamics faced while making Avengers, noting the live game was based on the studio's proprietary Foundation engine, which was never really meant for big online games. The studio has since switched to Epic's highly-optimized and flexible Unreal Engine 5 so that developers have a more even-keeled engine environment. Crystal Dynamics' debut UE5 project will be a new Tomb Raider game, the studio has confirmed.

Sources tell Exputer that Avengers will not receive new content in 2024, and that Crystal Dynamics plans to sunset the game throughout 2023, culminating a short 3-year lifecycle for the failed product.

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In 2022, Square Enix sold Crystal Dynamics and the licenses to the Marvel projects to Embracer Group for $300 million. The Japanese publisher says that it now wants to move away from risks and focus more on guaranteed franchises and titles.

It was noted that Crystal Dynamics did not make very much profit following the release of Avengers.

Back in May 2022, Embracer Group CEO Lars Wingefors commented that the licensed games included in the buyout, which includes Avengers and Guardians of the Galaxy, would "still be operated and built upon."

Wingefors did not comment on a possible end date for Avengers, however.