60 DAYS OF GAMING: DECADE ANNIVERSARY - DAY 3: A Game That I consider Underrated
Then: Theme Hospital
Now: Marvel Heroes
Make no mistake: Marvel Heroes will not go down the annals of history as the greatest game ever.
It will however go down as one of the most miss-managed, badly launched, badly ported missed opportunities that turned a licence to print money into a gradual decline into madness.
When it initially launched, this MMORPG featuring a chunk of the Marvel cast was lackluster; not too much content, not too many characters to choose from, and not too much incentive to pick a gameplay-wise broken or underpowered character instead of someone more formulaic that wasn't as fun.
Reviews and reception reflected that, in a harsh light. So Gazilion (headed by none other than David Brevik of OG Diablo pedigree) listened, and over the course of two years turned it into a game that whosoever tried, found things to like.
The story mode had remained the same. But add to this two team based modes (Danger Room and X-Defense), raids, content and story expansions, constant events, "dungeons" (née Terminals), free-for-all patrol modes, an ever-expanding roster of characters both hugely known as well as fan favorites (pretty sure that by the end the game had over 70 characters/classes), a surprisingly in-depth gameplay and a slew of possible builds and distinct playstyles for most of these characters.
Add to that that it was a true FTP game and that everything apart from inventory space could be gained in-game, weekly and monthly events and very generous developers with constant giveaways of hero and costume boxes as well as the event and cosmetic release tie-ins with every single MCU outing that came out.
Again: Licence to print money, right?
Unfortunately, the problems were there. The devs overcorrected and were too focused on keeping a fanbase that burned through every new content super fast pleased. The generous FTP model meant most people were not spending any cash to keep the lights on and the game was hemorrhaging money. Brevik left the company, among others. The burnout was becoming visible and the writing was on the wall.
Add to that a business decision to port the game to consoles, which simplified and watered down the mechanics the playerbase had come to love and a pedophilia scandal by the newly appointed CEO that meant Disney/Marvel wasn't keen to renew the licence, and eventually Marvel Heroes (at that time already renamed to Marvel Heroes Omega) announced that it would shut down its servers permanently on the end of December 2017.
Then, out of nowhere, with a whimper, servers went down, never to come back up, on November 27th 2017.
The playerbase still mourns and secretly hopes for a revival of a game that, if it had launched a little better and if the gamers have given it a second chance, might have still been here today. And be a damn good fun one, too.
It will however go down as one of the most miss-managed, badly launched, badly ported missed opportunities that turned a licence to print money into a gradual decline into madness.
When it initially launched, this MMORPG featuring a chunk of the Marvel cast was lackluster; not too much content, not too many characters to choose from, and not too much incentive to pick a gameplay-wise broken or underpowered character instead of someone more formulaic that wasn't as fun.
Reviews and reception reflected that, in a harsh light. So Gazilion (headed by none other than David Brevik of OG Diablo pedigree) listened, and over the course of two years turned it into a game that whosoever tried, found things to like.
The story mode had remained the same. But add to this two team based modes (Danger Room and X-Defense), raids, content and story expansions, constant events, "dungeons" (née Terminals), free-for-all patrol modes, an ever-expanding roster of characters both hugely known as well as fan favorites (pretty sure that by the end the game had over 70 characters/classes), a surprisingly in-depth gameplay and a slew of possible builds and distinct playstyles for most of these characters.
Add to that that it was a true FTP game and that everything apart from inventory space could be gained in-game, weekly and monthly events and very generous developers with constant giveaways of hero and costume boxes as well as the event and cosmetic release tie-ins with every single MCU outing that came out.
Again: Licence to print money, right?
Unfortunately, the problems were there. The devs overcorrected and were too focused on keeping a fanbase that burned through every new content super fast pleased. The generous FTP model meant most people were not spending any cash to keep the lights on and the game was hemorrhaging money. Brevik left the company, among others. The burnout was becoming visible and the writing was on the wall.
Add to that a business decision to port the game to consoles, which simplified and watered down the mechanics the playerbase had come to love and a pedophilia scandal by the newly appointed CEO that meant Disney/Marvel wasn't keen to renew the licence, and eventually Marvel Heroes (at that time already renamed to Marvel Heroes Omega) announced that it would shut down its servers permanently on the end of December 2017.
Then, out of nowhere, with a whimper, servers went down, never to come back up, on November 27th 2017.
The playerbase still mourns and secretly hopes for a revival of a game that, if it had launched a little better and if the gamers have given it a second chance, might have still been here today. And be a damn good fun one, too.
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