I’m afraid we still can’t say that Marvel Heroes is going to be OK, as we’ve now gone an entire month since the last formal update from the team.
As we’ve previously covered, Gazillion hasn’t provided its regular Friday update since October 13th; social media accounts have lain dormant, Halloween was bungled, negative Steam reviews flood in, the PC playerbase has shrunk to its smallest size in four and a half years, the Thor Ragnarok promotion never happened, two community reps for the studio departed, and accusations from former studio employees have surfaced in regard to “inappropriate conduct” toward female employees on the part of current CEO Dave Dohrmann, whose removal from the studio is now the goal of some activist players.
While Gazillion issued us a statement claiming “the company is functioning normally” (when anyone who ever played can tell you it’s not), it downplayed the standing allegations as “unsubstantiated internet accusations.” The studio also refused to answer direct questions about the company’s leadership, communication plans, and missed updates. All the company said last week was that it had no news and would update everyone when it could. Reportedly, a studio rep reiterated that statement this past weekend and told in-person visitors to stay away from the company HQ (thread now deleted).
Here’s what is new:
Redditors are circulating a leak from a PC test server whose current branch includes the costume closet, Omega items, tagging system, placeholders for Odinson and Spider-Woman, Gladiator Thor, and the ton of Thor content that had been posted to and removed from the console blogs a few weeks ago. It is unclear whether any of that content will ever actually launch in the game.
Morale among Reddit PC players is lower than low.
And former Creative Director Jeff “Doomsaw” Donais – the developer, you’ll recall, who lodged the most direct and public accusations against Dohrmann – has apparently returned to the official forums. “No Mods Around – I’m The Captain Now” is the title of his latest post, though he’s also seemingly attempting to drum up positivity for worthy studio members and keep the playerbase from freaking out, though it may be too late for that.
