Two and a half years into their most ambitious action-adventure title yet that introduced twelve of Earth's mightiest heroes, developer Crystal Dynamics, and publisher Square Enix have decided to pull the plug on Marvel's Avengers game.

Crystal Dynamics has officially revealed that update 2.8, which is scheduled to go live on March 31, 2023, will be the final update the game will receive which will feature any new content. Official support for the game will cease on September 30, 2023, after which the game will be permanently delisted from all digital storefronts. Players who own both physical and digital copies of Marvel's Avengers will still have access to all single-player and multiplayer content, with servers scheduled to remain online indefinitely.

That means that the Winter Soldier Hero and the Cloning Lab Omega-Level Threat, which were added on update 2.7, will be the last new content to be added to the game. After the update, all existing credits will be converted to in-game currency as all cosmetic items like skins, nameplates, takedowns and emotes from the Marketplace, Shipments, and Challenge Cards will become free to download. It’s important to note that there will be no refunds for purchases completed between now and the official discontinuation, neither for the game nor its content.

It’s incredibly disappointing to see language & views from employees that don't align with our studio values. We apologize to our community & coworkers who are rightfully upset by the content. Brian will no longer be a studio spokesperson or communicating about studio projects. https://t.co/yBWIxwviuL

— Crystal Dynamics (@CrystalDynamics) November 22, 2022

The latest development comes after rumors of studio Crystal Dynamics shutting down development for the live-service title started circulating late last year. The original plan had been to support the title with updates and new content until the end of the year, but that all went out the window after its lead developer Brian Waggoner got stripped of his spokesperson privileges and was ousted from the studio. This was the end result of a recent controversy in which some of his older questionable tweets resurfaced online.

While Marvel's Avengers was never meant to be one of the best-selling games of 2022, it’s still sad to not see it live up to the immense popularity of its titular Marvel IP.

Despite mixed critical reception and players not being pleased with the game's looting system, the game survived for more than two years by building a healthy player base. Going into this year, Marvel is at a crossroads with multiple projects and Dave Bautista being sidelined as the massive Chinese market becomes an option once again. Crystal Dynamics is shifting focus as well, with Amazon Games backing up their upcoming Tomb Raider game.