Avengers: 8 Ways To Save The Game

2. Ditch The Soulless Corporate Feel

Although sometimes it's hard to put your finger on precisely which elements trigger this sensation, some titles are overrun with corporate influence and money-making schemes, to the point where any creative vision actively requires effort to see clearly.

Star Wars Battlefront II had it, with a Star Card system initially ruined by microtransactions and pay-to-win elements. Destiny 2 had it as we were chasing "White Engram" loot boxes. Shadow of War had it with orcs tied to paid random drops, and Evolve being "built with DLC in mind!" siphoned all rewards into monetised tiers.

Avengers, though? It's the worst example in quite some time.

Sponsorship deals are one thing, but when you're forced to set up a Square Enix account to access the beta - something that only serves marketing departments with fresh data and profit - it's an insulting shambles.

The good news, is that this feeling can go away. It almost immediately evaporates after launch, as various sponsorship deals have been cashed in on, launch window sales satisfy the number-crunchers and the publisher-developer pendulum swings far more towards the latter.

This is what saved Destiny as Bungie left Activision, and after EA finally let DICE work on Battlefront without interference, we got the best Star Wars multiplayer game of all time. Even Shadow of War's microtransactions were stripped out eventually.

It'll take many changes (and leaving Verizon/Virgin Media costumes in the rear view mirror), but going forward, hopefully the heart of Crystal Dynamics can win out against the money-first priorities of Square Enix.