Avengers matchmaking problems persist as its PC player count drops below 1,000

Marvel’s Avengers matchmaking problems are reportedly being exacerbated by a declining player count, with the PC version of the live service game said to be notably affected.

Five days after the title’s September 4 release, developer Crystal Dynamics said it was working to deliver “significant improvements requested for matchmaking”.

Some of these were provided in the game’s first major post-release patch, V1.3.0, on September 18. Crystal Dynamics claimed the patch addressed 1,000 issues players had helped surface in the two weeks since the game’s release, including “various fixes to multiplayer and matchmaking systems”.

UPDATE: Crystal Dynamics has said it’s confident players will return to Marvel’s Avengers as it continues to plan post-release content and improvements for the superhero game.

ORIGINAL STORY CONTINUES: But according to players on the Steam forums, matchmaking issues continue to blight the game. Some users are reportedly waiting for up to 30 minutes to be matchmade in the co-op focused title, which requires each player to select a different character when teaming up to tackle missions.

And the problem is seemingly growing due to falling player numbers. According to Steam Charts, Avenger’s dipped below 1,000 concurrent players for the second consecutive day on Thursday (it stood at 1,613 at the time of publication).

Matchmaking problems are not confined to the PC version of the game, Forbes reports.

“On PS4, the largest platform, I’ve found that usually even with imminently important missions like daily resetting villain sectors, it’s rare to get a full team of four, and usually one or two players ends up being an AI fill-in,” writes Paul Tassi.

“Avengers is unique in that it can function without other players (and in fact using your own AI teammates is sometimes preferable), but it does not indicate the game is in terribly good health at the moment.”

Speaking during a financial results briefing in July, Square Enix president Yosuke Matsuda said the company had “very high” expectations for Marvel’s Avengers.

“Since it will be a title with GaaS (Game as a Service) features, our operations after the game goes live will also be key, not just initial sales on launch.

“We hope to build excitement around the title by rolling out powerful add-on content,” he added.

Avengers will be released for PS5 and Xbox Series X/S later this year and current-gen owners will be able to upgrade at no additional cost.

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