 | Digital Release | PC (Steam) June 03, 2013 (as Marvel Heroes) June 04, 2014 (as Marvel Heroes 2015) January 28, 2016 (as Marvel Heroes 2016) June 07, 2016 (as Marvel Heroes Omega) PlayStation 4 (as Marvel Heroes Omega) April 26, 2017 (NA) May 23, 2017 (EU) Xbox One (as Marvel Heroes Omega) June 30, 2017 (EU, NA) |
| Delisting | November 27, 2017 | |
| Developer | Gazillion Entertainment | |
| Publisher | Gazillion Entertainment | |
| Available On | None | |
| Links | Marvel Heroes homepage Kotaku news post Massively Overpowered news post |
Delisting
Disney/Marvel announced on November 15th, 2017 that they had terminated their relationship with developer Gazillion Entertainment and that Marvel Heroes would be shut down on December 31st. The statement they provided to outlets including Kotaku who was one of the first to post the news follows:
“We regret to inform our Marvel Heroes fans that we have ended our relationship with Gazillion Entertainment, and that the Marvel Heroes games will be shut down. We would like to sincerely thank the players who joined the Marvel Heroes community, and will provide any further updates as they become available.”
Later the same day the official Marvel Heroes homepage was updated with the following farewell message and further details:
“We’re sad to inform our players and our entire Marvel Heroes family that Marvel Heroes Omega will be shutting down.
The Marvel Heroes servers will stay on until Dec 31, 2017, and we’ll be removing real money purchases as soon as possible. Players will be able to play the game entirely for free once this sunset period commences. We will share the exact date things go completely free as soon as we can.
We’ve had the privilege of entertaining and collaborating with our players for over four years. We’re extremely humbled by that privilege and wanted to get this message out: Thank you. Thank you to our players, our tireless employees, and everyone involved in the life of Marvel Heroes, Marvel Heroes 2015, Marvel Heroes 2016, and Marvel Heroes Omega.”
As of November 16th the game remained available to download and play for free on Steam and Xbox One but the North American PlayStation 4 version was unavailable from the web or the console. It was still accessible from other territories including Australia, Europe, France, and Germany on that day but by November 23rd the game had been removed from these territories as well.
On November 22nd Massively Overpowered reported word from an anonymous source that Gazillion Entertainment had disbanded, laid off nearly all staff, and would be shutting down the game on November 24th instead of December 31st. The source also shared parts of a termination letter delivered to Gazillion staff by CEO Dave Dohrmann that indicated creditors had “pulled the plug” on funding, and that accrued time off and health benefits were no longer being honored. Throughout the day, tweets from now-former Gazillion staff confirmed many of these details.
The game remained playable through the holiday weekend but promptly went offline on the afternoon of Monday, November 27th. Marvel Heroes’ twitter account posted a final farewell message:
“It is with great sadness that we announce the closing of Gazillion Entertainment. As a result, we are no longer able to operate Marvel Heroes Omega until December 31 as originally planned. Instead, Marvel Heroes Omega will be sunset immediately on all platforms and will no longer be available as soon as this process is completed. The company would like to sincerely thank its fans and employees for all the support over the years of development and live service.”
The game’s subreddit group tallied the losses throughout the day which ended when the game’s homepage and forums were ultimately taken down.
Massively Overpowered provided a succinct recap of the events surrounding the game’s development and final months. Even still, It is hard to define if the overdue content updates, dormant social media accounts, and departed staff members are solely due to the allegations of misconduct or if the game’s development had already been suffering before the ethical concerns came to light.
According to former Gazillion employee, Anthony Gallegos, who spoke on Kinda Funny Games Daily on November 27th, Gazillion’s contract with Marvel was lost at some point in October, resulting in a halt in development on the game. Employees were furloughed from working on the game (and interacting with the community through Gazillion’s official channels) a few weeks before they were terminated.
Despite the accusations of inappropriate conduct by the studio’s leadership, Disney/Marvel’s decision to shut down the game may have been based on the dwindling player count. According to Steam player data the number of active players dropped precipitously through 2017 with less than 1,000 daily players for the latter half of the year. Gallegos pointed out that the console versions of the game were intended to be a new revenue stream for the studio but that profits never hit the intended target.
Furthermore, Disney/Marvel may have already planned to shutter the game to further align with their larger direction for the Marvel universe across all forms of media.
About the Game
“Marvel Heroes Omega assembles one of the largest gatherings of iconic Super Heroes, Super Villains, and locations from the Marvel Universe in gaming history for PlayStation 4, Xbox One, PC, and Mac.
Set in the iconic Marvel Universe, Marvel Heroes Omega combines the core game-play style of Action RPGs and MMOs with the expansive library of heroes from the Marvel Universe. In the game, players can collect and play as their favorite Marvel Super Heroes (including Iron Man, Thor, Wolverine, Hulk, Spider-Man, Captain America and many others).
Team up with friends and try to stop Doctor Doom from devastating the world with the power of the Cosmic Cube in a story written by Marvel comic super-scribe Brian Michael Bendis.“
Battle as your favorite Marvel Super Heroes
Play as Iron Man, Thor, Wolverine, Hulk, Spider-Man, Captain America, Deadpool, Emma Frost and many other famous heroes.
Expand your Hero Roster while Playing the Game
All Heroes fully playable to level 10. Earn additional heroes for free just by playing the game!
Team Up With Friends
Join with your friends and other likeminded adventurers in one of Marvel Heroes Omega’s many Headquarters, including Avengers Tower and the S.H.I.E.L.D. Helicarrier.