Due to the closure of developer Gazillion Entertainment, Marvel Heroes Omega has now been shut down across all platforms. Originally, the game was meant to be available till December 31st. However, with Gazillion’s closure, that didn’t happen.

The developer prepared a written statement on Twitter, which you can read in full below, echoes many of the same points. For an action RPG that’s been available for a number of years and apparently saw its fair share of issues, seeing it end so abruptly is certainly sad.

Marvel Heroes first launched in 2015 and offered a free to play action RPG where players could control a number of different heroes like Captain America, Thor, Hulk, Spider-Man, Iron Man and whatnot. It saw a great deal of popularity, further bolstered by its updates and tie-ins with Marvel film properties. However, Gazillion would often face criticism for its gameplay changes, especially when the game was announced for Xbox One and PS4.

What are your thoughts on Marvel Heroes and it’s sudden end? Let us know in the comments below.

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— Marvel Heroes Omega (@MarvelHeroes) November 27, 2017

In a rather shocking announcement, Marvel (or Disney) has revealed that it will be ending its working relationship with Gazillion Entertainment. As a result, online action RPG Marvel Heroes will be shutting down.

In an email to Kotaku, a representative for Marvel said that, “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.”

Numerous people who worked at Gazillion, including one current employee and two former employees, noted that there were three rounds of layoffs roughly a year after launch. It was also revealed to Kotaku that several employees working on the game were told to not come in. Considering that Gazillion hasn’t had a number of weekly community updates or tie-in material for the recent Thor Ragnarok, along with community managers going missing on the forums, it seems that players knew something bad was coming.

An anonymous employee also noted that despite creating features for the game over the past 2 to 3 months, he was unsure whether they would actually be implemented. Speaking on fans of the game, “While they’re sitting there reasonably flaming us, our hands are tied.”

Marvel Heroes’ former creative director Jeff Donais said that the resulting lay-offs “Would definitely not be the fault of the internal men and women who actually worked on the game itself or served the customers…It was a real thing that people didn’t see their families as much as they should, or sacrificed their health to work an 80-hour week when an important patch deadline was looming…The patch release schedule, especially when PC was the main focus, was aggressively insane.”

What are your thoughts on Marvel Heroes being shut down, especially after more than four years? Let us know in the comments below.

GamingBolt spoke to lead designer Ben “TheArtofRawr” Gilbert about the same and also asked about balance changes, the current content that console players can expect in Marvel Heroes Omega and much more.

"For those who want to truly maximize any single hero’s true potential, there are a variety of Trials for players who want to unlock higher tiers of difficulty and access to the most powerful gear for their Hero."

How has the journey been for the studio thus far with Marvel Heroes, especially as both the comics and movies keep changing the status quo?

The journey has been a rich one. We’re all huge fans of the Marvel Universe. So it’s a great honor and privilege to be able to work with the good folks at Marvel – and to be able to continue expanding and bringing new content to Marvel Heroes Omega alongside the Marvel Universe at large. We recently introduced new content inspired by Spider-Man: Homecoming to PC, including a new event that finds players facing off against the Sinister Six. It culminates with a great rooftop showdown with Vulture – and we can’t wait for console players to be able to check it out soon on PlayStation 4 and Xbox One in July.

What is the difference between regular Marvel Heroes and Omega, such that it’s being referred to as Omega on consoles rather than just Marvel Heroes?

The main difference between PC and console is content. There are a lot more modes and playable Heroes currently on PC that we’re planning to bring over to consoles. The end goal is more parity across all platforms, and to that end you can expect a rebranding of the PC version from Marvel Heroes 2016 to Marvel Heroes Omega soon. It’s very important to us that we continue developing new content for all platforms, and more parity helps us achieve that. Our recently released Spider-Man: Homecoming launching first for PC and coming soon to consoles is a good example of that.

What can you tell us about the current iteration of Marvel Heroes? What does it offer in terms of content like side-quests and story missions?

New players will likely find themselves focused on building up their very first Hero as they make their way through our nine-chapter story campaign. It covers the rich and detailed world of the Marvel Universe, spanning from the gritty streets of Hell’s Kitchen to the mystical realm of Asgard – and pits players against some of the most infamous villains, including Doctor Doom and Loki. But finishing the story campaign and leveling up your first hero is just the beginning.

For those who want to truly maximize any single hero’s true potential, there are a variety of Trials for players who want to unlock higher tiers of difficulty and access to the most powerful gear for their Hero. There’s also our new Infinity System, which awards players with all kinds of statistical bonuses for continued play after hitting the level-cap of 60. Operations and Danger Room scenarios are also great for quick instanced runs that end with the chance for more valuable gear to optimize heroes. And that doesn’t even cover some of the end-game raid content we still plan to bring over from the PC version.

"Major iterations to systems can be quite polarizing. There was a lot of debate internally, but at the end of the day, we truly feel that those changes resulted in a better experience."

How do you feel the impact of Marvel Heroes has been especially with competitors like Path of Exile and the still-popular Diablo 3?

Path of Exile and Diablo III are fantastic ARPGs – and we think both titles have brought a lot of great ideas to the genre. If I had to point to one thing Marvel Heroes Omega brings to the table, I’d just point to our title. We have a fantastic roster of playable heroes from the Marvel Universe, which will only continue to grow over time. If you have any favorite Hero or team from the Marvel Universe, there’s a strong chance you’ll find them in our game. We’ve got core members from the Avengers, Defenders, Guardians of the Galaxy, Marvel Knights, the X-Men, and many more. We even have playable heroes you might not expect to see, such as Angela or Squirrel Girl. And that’s not even counting some of the new characters we plan to bring to the game over time.

Tuning the end-game in online action RPGs is always tough. What is the current end game in Marvel Heroes Omega, for both solo and group players?

For solo players, completing the Cosmic Trial to unlock our highest difficulty setting and most valuable tier of loot drops is a must for those who want to perfect any Hero. That opens the door to challenging runs with better loot in our various Operations and Danger Room scenarios. For group players, couch co-op is a great way to enjoy playing Marvel Heroes Omega with a friend for a more casual beat ‘em up experience.

But we also have Patrols, public areas that are constantly under siege by super villains and other threats. It’s great fun to jump into the fray with tons of other players online to take on various villains to foil their schemes. Like our other modes, Patrols also have a range of difficulty settings, which can be unlocked by completing our various Trials. We’re also constantly adding new, ever-harder things to challenge Heroes at the highest power echelons.

Long-time players have had some criticism for the changes to the movement, Infinity System and just the game being dumbed down in general. What are your thoughts on this?

Major iterations to systems can be quite polarizing. There was a lot of debate internally, but at the end of the day, we truly feel that those changes resulted in a better experience. We also took great effort to carefully explain our rationale for these changes to our players in detailed developer blogs on our PC forums (our only platform at the time).

Even with these changes, Marvel Heroes Omega is still an incredibly fast-paced ARPG in terms of movement and navigation – and the relative elegance and clarity of the Infinity System unlocks the depth of an infinite progression system for more players, as compared to the highly complex Omega System. These changes were about bringing more choices to both moment-to-moment and strategic choice gameplay sections of the game, and we feel they achieve it nicely.

Generally,  there will always be those who disagree with any given design decision, however we’re always committed and eager to hear out any and all feedback players are willing enough to share. At the end of the day, we all share the same goal: to make this game the best it possibly can be.

"We are excited to introduce even more playable heroes to Marvel Heroes Omega on consoles. The first new hero players can look forward to will be Black Cat!"

What are the pros and cons of working on consoles versus PC?

Speaking purely from the design side (engineering side being a whole other discussion), there are some trade-offs. Both platforms fundamentally share a love of the content, but have some subtle and not-so-subtle details to design around. The console market tends to demand ruthless efficiency, and very clear, succinct communication of mechanics. PC audiences tend to be more forgiving of those screen-smothering webs of tiny icons and walls of tooltip text.

Also, a controller trades off fine-tuned cursor control and typing for viscerality and approachability. Designing abilities to function in both control configurations was an interesting hurdle, but I think we got it done nicely. This is just to name a few of the challenges we tackled in adapting a PC title to a consoles, not to mention while taking that opportunity to iterate on some of our core design patterns (I’m looking at you, Power Points system).

What future heroes can we look forward to, both in the near future and long-term?

I can’t speak too much in detail for long term additions, but we are excited to introduce even more playable heroes to Marvel Heroes Omega on consoles. The first new hero players can look forward to will be Black Cat! For PC players, the next new playable character won’t be a Hero at all. Get ready for Carnage!

What kind of future updates can we expect in terms of content? Will updates release at the same time on consoles as PC?

We plan to follow a release schedule similar to what players are familiar with for other free-to-play games on multiple platforms with new content launching first on PC followed by PlayStation 4 and Xbox One.

Is there anything else you want to tell us before we let you go?

I really appreciate you taking the time to chat with us about our game. If you are a Marvel fan or love ARPGs, I truly believe you’d be doing yourself a disservice by passing on Marvel Heroes Omega. It’s free-to-play and our recent launch is just the first step. Marvel Heroes Omega will continue to improve, grow, and expand along with developments in the Marvel Universe.

Gazillion’s Marvel Heroes has been a fairly decent success on the PC, that too despite recent changes having revamped many of its core systems. With Marvel Heroes Omega releasing for Xbox One and PS4, the developer faces a hefty challenge ahead in trying to cater to a new crowd. It’s tougher than it looks, especially when trying to support the original game as well.

Gazillion lead designer Ben “TheArtofRawr” Gilbert discussed the pros and cons of working on consoles versus PC. Gilbert spoke purely from the design (noting that the engineering side was a whole different discussion) and said, “There are some trade-offs. Both platforms fundamentally share a love of the content, but have some subtle and not-so-subtle details to design around. The console market tends to demand ruthless efficiency, and very clear, succinct communication of mechanics. PC audiences tend to be more forgiving of those screen-smothering webs of tiny icons and walls of tooltip text.

Gilbert also noted that with regards to controls, there is some loss of cursor control that has to be accounted for. “A controller trades off fine-tuned cursor control and typing for viscerality and approachability. Designing abilities to function in both control configurations was an interesting hurdle, but I think we got it done nicely. This is just to name a few of the challenges we tackled in adapting a PC title to a consoles, not to mention while taking that opportunity to iterate on some of our core design patterns (I’m looking at you, Power Points system).”

Marvel Heroes Omega is currently available for Xbox One and PS4 as of June 30th. It’s an action RPG that features 38 heroes collected from the Marvel universe including Iron Man, Captain America, the Guardians of the Galaxy, Spider-Man, Wolverine, Deadpool, the X-Men and much more. Players can customize these character with various outfits from the different Marvel properties and take part in a nine chapter story campaign.

Marvel Heroes Omega is, of course, a free-to-play game, and other than the Marvel license, it is that element of the game that will draw in majority of the players. However, it is also that very element that spawns one of the game’s most major issues. Being a free-to-play game, Omega obviously had to include microtransactions for it to be any kind of a viable business model for the developers, but it’s sad to see that the game doesn’t do this very well.

The majority of the microtransactions are, admittedly, restricted to aesthetic items- new costumes or skins for a number of characters which differ in terms of how they look and sound, but don’t change anything of significance. Long time fans of the comics and some of these characters might be tempted to buy these costumes, but they’re by no means essential to be able to progress in the game. As you can imagine, then, this is not where the problem is.

"There’s enough to like here, but that shouldn’t take away from the fact that the game also suffers from a number of major issues."

The issue arises when it comes to purchasing new characters in the game. And that is something that almost feels like a necessity, and not just to circumvent feelings of monotony and repetition. You don’t have to be an ardent, avid Marvel fan to want to play as Daredevil, or the Hulk, or Spider-Man, or Wolverine. It’s obvious that people will want to spend a lot of time with these characters, and while it’s commendable that all these and more are playable in Marvel Heroes Omega, the fact that the game puts severe restrictions on their playability is obviously an issue.

For the purposes of this review, we were provided with packs containing a number of characters to be able to play as, but that, of course, won’t be the case when players download the game to play it themselves. Marvel Heroes Omega allows players to play as every single character in the game- but only for a limited period of time. The level cap for all of them is 10, which is hardly enough to play the game for a significant period of time. After that, you have to spend money to be able to play as these characters further.

To be fair, the game does let you do this without having to spend real money- as with most microtransaction models, Marvel Omega Heroes allows you to spend in-game currency rather than actual money to purchase these characters. And while on paper that sounds like an excellent idea, the game makes it incredibly hard for you to be able to gather enough in-game money to purchase new characters. These costs are incredibly high, and result in you having to settle into a long grind of attrition. We realize that being a free-to-play title, microtransactions are unavoidable for Marvel Heroes Omega, but when the game balances them in such a way, it’s hard not to be critical.

And it really is a shame that the game doesn’t let you dive into its roster properly- and that’s because it’s a very impressive roster. From hugely popular characters like Deadpool, Captain America and Iron Man to lesser known ones like Moon Knight and Magik, from fan favourite villains such as Doctor Doom, Elektra and Kingpin to Marvel mainstays like The Hand, HYDRA and the Sinister Six, there is something for all sorts of Marvel fans here. This is a huge cast of characters, both playable and unplayable, and chances are, if you play Omega, you will find a bunch of characters you already know and love.

"This is a huge cast of characters, both playable and unplayable, and chances are, if you play Omega, you will find a bunch of characters you already know and love."

What’s even better is the fact that all these playable characters feel markedly different from each other- in such a large roster, you’d expect there to be a cutting of some corners here and there, but developers Gazillion Entertainment have shown great love and respect for all these characters. They all have their own unique special abilities, skill trees, moves, skill sets, and playing as each of them feels different. As you can imagine, this makes the player want to experiment and try out all the characters- circling back to the issue with unlocking them.

The story that encompasses all these characters is nothing special- it’s delightfully cheesy and seems like pretty a pretty regular comic book affair- which makes sense, considering the fact that it has been written by the same person who wrote the Ultimate Spider-Man comics. The story is told through comic book style cutscenes, but unfortunately, these often fall flat and seem quite low budget. When you think of games like Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker, you realize that it’s not as if comic book-style cutscenes cannot be done properly, so to see a game based on Marvel characters featuring underwhelming comic book-style cutscenes is a little disappointing. If ever you’d expect a game to have amazing cutscenes of that ilk, you’d think it’d be a Marvel game.

If you’re not feeling like playing through the game’s story though, there are other modes for you to tackle. Much like its characters, Omega has an impressive amount of content in terms of game modes. There’s a regular horde-mode like feature, there’s a mode which sees you patrolling the streets of cities as superheroes and fighting off bad guys, as well as an Operations. The Operations mode is perhaps the best out of all these extra modes- it gives players a variety of different objectives, putting them in the middle of familiar locations and pitting them against memorable villains and antagonists.

However, in spite of its richness in content, much like so many games of the dungeon crawler variety, Marvel Heroes Omega is quite repetitive. It’s bad enough that the game practically forces you into an exhausting grind, as this review has already mentioned. What makes matters worse is that there is very little variation on offer. All there is is this loop of fighting and looting, and nothing at all in between to break the monotony or change the pace. It doesn’t help that the gameplay itself is quite unoriginal, in that it doesn’t try to do anything new, and is mostly satisfied with following in the footsteps of prior trailblazing games in the genre.

"To see a game based on Marvel characters featuring underwhelming comic book-style cutscenes is a little disappointing. If ever you’d expect a game to have amazing cutscenes of that ilk, you’d think it’d be a Marvel game."

But that can work in Omega’s favour at times as well- because being a decent, run off the mill dungeon crawler in terms of moment to moment to gameplay isn’t so bad. There is tons of loot in this game, ranging across all sorts of equipment, items and upgrades, and if you’ve ever been addicted to looting in similar games before, there’s every chance that that might happen with Omega too.

One area where Marvel Heroes Omega falters significantly, though, is the technical side. From a visuals perspective, there’s nothing impressive going on here. The visuals are passable at best and bland at worst, with not much detail in the environments, and you will spot countless instances where you see bland textures or unseemly, pixelized blocks. The game also fails to run at a stable frame rate. There are awful stutters and freezes at times. That would have been bad enough no matter what, and the fact that this is a game that is hugely reliant on online play and connectivity makes the matters even worse.

Marvel Alliance Omega is a game that should, on paper, be quite the catch, and in a lot of ways, it’s a great deal of fun. The generic but enjoyable addictiveness of its loot based dungeon crawling gameplay will interest fans of the genre, while its large roster of characters has to be applauded. But it’s severely flawed in other areas, not least of all in terms of performance issues, repetitiveness, and its frustrating microtransactions model. If you can look past those issues, Omega will provide you with several good hours of fun. But these are significant issues, so not everyone might be able to overlook them.

This game was reviewed on the PlayStation 4.

Gazillion Entertainment confirmed recently that its action RPG Marvel Heroes Omega would be heading to PS4 and Xbox One. The closed beta for the PS4 version is now set to begin on April 21st with information on the Xbox One closed beta to follow later.

If you purchase any of the Founder’s Packs from the PlayStation Store or the official website, then you’ll gain closed beta access. For PlayStation Plus subscribers taking part in the closed, there are other benefits including discounts on in-game currency, limited time access to certain heroes and a Daredevil costume for free.

Marvel Heroes has been available on PC since 2013 with Omega being the latest version will all of the different modes, updates, content and campaign included. It’s had a fairly decent following thus far so it’s not surprising to see it head to consoles. The full game currently doesn’t have a release date for PS4 and Xbox One.

After the initial teaser, Gazillion Entertainment officially announced Marvel Heroes 2015 and revealed that it would be entering into open beta when it releases on June 4th for PC and Mac. Gazillion promises changes to the original game along with new modes, new heroes and new end-game Raid content wherein they must face off against the new big bad Surtur.

CEO of Gazillion Entertainment David Brevik stated that, “Marvel Heroes 2015 nicely represents everything we have accomplished and intend to accomplish with one name. We’ve come a very long way since our original launch a year ago, and the now imminent release of Marvel Heroes 2015 alongside our massive anniversary celebrations marks the beginning of something even better.

“Whether it’s defending the X-Mansion or recruiting your favorite superhero as a Team-Up, we’re excited to continue delivering on our community’s expectations. We truly believe we put more improvements into our game than any other iterative release out there. The 2015 moniker reaffirms our commitment to keep doing it.”

Looking forward to the new Marvel Heroes? Let us know in the comments.

Gazillion Entertainment’s Marvel Heroes 2015 has more or less been confirmed and it looks to be an update to the original superhero action MMO. A short teaser trailer has been released for the game which showcases several Marvel heroes like Wolverine, Miss Marvel, Captain America, Hulk and Rocket Raccoon facing down Surtur, one of Thor’s greatest foes. Check it out above.

Surtur appears to be the antagonist this time around and certainly wields enough power to qualify as an apocalyptic-like figure in the Marvel universe (aside from the actual Apocalypse). Not much has been seen of the demon in the Marvel films or video games so hopefully his appearance here will establish his character well.

Marvel Heroes 2015 is billed for a June 4th release date. Stay tuned for more information on what kind of content and characters it will offer in the coming weeks and let us know you thoughts on the teaser trailer in the comments below.

Gazillion Entertainment’s free to play online RPG Marvel Heroes has received a new 2.31 game update which, as usual, adds a heap ton of new content along with new characters. Gazillion also noted that signups for the Mac version’s closed beta are now available. The closed beta for Mac will being in Spring.

PC players can look forward to playing as Moon Knight, who is the so-called knight of vengeance. Sort of like an ersatz Batman under the Marvel banner, Moon Knight relies on utter badassery along with lunar-based powers and gadgets to defeat his foes. He is the 30th hero to join the ranks in Marvel Heroes.

Also, for Mardi Gras, there are will be special themed masks and beads available, with each player receiving boosts for rare item find, special item find, and experience gain. There will also be limited edition Fortune cards for players daily, and some ultra rare items like Punisher Franken-Castle, Wolverine Brood and Headpool are available again as part of the occasion.

Gazillion Entertainment’s Marvel Heroes has received a significant boost with Game Update 2.2, namely Forge of Asgard. This adds a deeper customization to the items and character outfits and allows you to combine five runs with Uru-Forged items. This can grant all kinds of abilities for your character including full health, Frost Giant growth and invisibility.

The game will also be arriving on the Mac with the closed beta beginning near the end of February. CEO David Brevik stated that. We’ve always wanted to release on Mac and we’re proud to announce our CBT. Marvel Heroes continues to grow and improve at an astounding rate. Giving Mac players an opportunity to suit up and save the world is a good next step for us and one we’re happy to take.”

Marvel Heroes is a free to play MMORPG which allows you to choose tons of heroes and villains including Captain America, Iron Man and Thor. Have you given it a shot yet? Let us know your thoughts in the comments.