The players have spoken, and after a month of deliberations, Crystal Dynamics has removed a pair of controversial consumables in Marvel's Avengers that players said amounted to pay-to-win mechanics.
Last month, Crystal Dynamics announced that it would address player concerns regarding Marvel's Avengers’ grind by adding consumables that increased experience and resource gain. While many games feature similar consumables, most of them are free-to-play titles where consumable-based monetization is somewhat more accepted. Marvel's Avengers is a premium game so many players saw Hero's Catalysts and Fragment Extractors as a plain and deliberate cash grab.
But what truly angered players was how Crystal Dynamics nerfed experience gains earlier in the year, only to provide the unnerfed experience rate back so long as players were willing to pay for it.
Today, after a month of player outcry, Crystal Dynamics has announced Hero's Catalysts and Fragment Extractors will be removed from the Marvel's Avengers in-game store by the end of the day.
"We apologize for not responding sooner to your concerns about the addition of paid consumables in the Marketplace. We introduced them as an option for an evolving player base, and did not see them as pay-to-win since they don't offer power directly," explained Crystal Dynamics on Twitter.
"After considering your feedback, we have decided that by the end of today we will remove Hero's Catalysts and Fragment Extractors for purchase. They will continue to be earnable rewards and those already owned will still be usable."
The developer added they hope that this "can be the first step in rebuilding your confidence in us as a team."
The announcement seems to have received a mixed response on Twitter, with some players thanking the devs while others noting these consumables never should have been added in the first place.
Meanwhile, some players have already decided Guardians of the Galaxy is the better game for having fewer microtransactions and no live service elements.