Update: 20/02/2023 - The original creative director for Marvel's Avengers was Shaun Escayg who left Crystal Dynamics shortly after launch. Cezar Virtosu worked on the game as a creative director via Virtuos Paris and has never been employed by Crystal Dynamics. Original story follows.

Three years on from its arrival, Crystal Dynamics confirmed last month that it will be ending support for Marvel's Avengers. While it's fairly obvious why the game is being shut down, no one in an official capacity has really explained why. However, a creative director who worked on the game throughout its development has apologized for the project.

Cezar Virtosu spoke with Edge magazine (thanks, GamesRadar), admitting the development of Marvel's Avengers was a “challenging production”. While running down some of the projects he's worked on, Virtosu didn't have much else to say about the live-service Avengers game outside of it being challenging. He simply added “I apologize for that” and the interview moved on.

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Virtosu actually left Crystal Dynamics a while ago so hasn't been at the studio for most of the post-launch Avengers fallout, its DLC, and new heroes who have been added in an attempt to keep the game alive for as long as was originally intended. The director is now at Hexworks where he is working on The Lords of the Fallen. A Soulslike game Virtosu admits will be challenging to showcase in a post-Elden Ring world.

marvel's avengers
via Square Enix

Crystal Dynamics revealed support for Marvel's Avengers will end on September 30 of this year. That presumably means no more new heroes will be added to the game between now and then meaning its roster is now complete and its continued story has come to an abrupt end. There were clearly plans to add more heroes to the game as She-Hulk and Captain Marvel voice lines were discovered in its files after the shutdown announcement.

Whether another studio will be given a crack at an Avengers game in the future remains unknown. EA seems the most likely candidate with a number of Marvel irons in the fire right now. An announced Iron Man game, and a rumored Black Panther one to follow. Insomniac is a potential candidate too as it prepares to launch its Spider-Man sequel later this year and then what promises to be a pretty grizzly Wolverine game after that.

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