Starting today, players of the free game Marvel Heroes Omega will not be able to purchase most of the Fantastic Four characters, after the renewed licensing agreement between Gazillion and Marvel prevents the developers from making any commercial use of them. That means, players have until today to purchase Mr. Fantastic, Invisible Woman, Thing, Human Torch, and Silver Surfer, as current owners will retain their access to them.
The developer has announced the news in a post of the official forum of the game, stating which items will be affected by this change and when will exactly the Fantastic Four characters be dropped from the digital platforms: “You will have until Wednesday (6/28) at 2:00PM PDT to purchase those heroes with Eternity Splinters. This change will also affect all costumes for those characters as well as Future Foundation costumes for other characters.”
Apparently the only character that has been spared from this move is ironically Doctor Doom, who plays an important role in the story campaign of the game, and will remain as a playable villain.
The change in the licensing agreement will also affect certain outfits from Spider-Man, Ghost Rider, and Doctor Doom. Outfits for Mr. Fantastic, Invisible Woman, Human Torch and the Thing will also be unavailable from now on, even for those who unlocked the characters in the past.
This move from Marvel to put barriers in the commercial use of certain characters is not something new, as the absence of any X-Men or Fantastic Four characters in the base roster of the upcoming Marvel vs. Capcom: Infinite has also sparked a wave of negative comments from the fans. The comics company has declared in the past that their commercial focus is in those properties that they can exploit in all media, specifically those part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. 20th Century Fox and not Marvel is the one who holds the rights to use the X-Men and Fantastic Four characters on film and TV.
Marvel Heroes Omega is available for free on PS4, Xbox One, and PC.
