Ryan Taylor
Marvel Heroes Omega was a fan-favorite free-to-play MMO action RPG before Marvel parted ways with Gazillion Entertainment in 2017, leading to the game being shut down. If, like me, you never got around to playing it, Marvel Heroes Omega was essentially Marvel’s answer to the Diablo series.
It featured almost 70 playable characters, each with their own “power trees” that players could upgrade as they levelled up, customizing their play-style. Marvel Heroes Omega also had various cosmetics which could also be purchased as microtransactions or unlocked through grinding for in-game currencies.
Between its launch in 2013 (titled Marvel Heroes) and cancellation in 2017, it went through various updates and relaunches, adding new enemies, areas and raids, and a console port. Although initial reception to the game was mixed, it went on to receive praise for its improvements over the years.
Toward the end of the game’s life David Brevik, known for his work on the acclaimed Diablo series, left Gazzilion Entertainment to pursue other opportunities. Updates began to miss their promised release dates as well as some promised content not releasing at all. Employees began to leave the project in the midst of harassment allegations against the new CEO, Dave Dohrmann.
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Gazillion was liquidated, all employees were fired without pay and benefits and the game was taken offline. Since then, fans have lamented its closure with increasing feelings of nostalgia, partially fuelled by other games that sought to surpass Marvel Heroes Omega such as Marvel’s Avengers from Crystal Dynamics failing to live up to the hype. (As well as also being shut down… Online Marvel games just can’t seem to catch a break.)
Is Marvel Heroes Omega making a comeback?
But things may be about to change. Youtuber SlightStardust recently got the chance to speak with a group of fans that are trying to resurrect Marvel Heroes Omega from its ashes via server emulation. While its not yet fully returned to its former glory, it is possible to run around the game world with various characters, use some of their abilities and try various cosmetics.
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The team are working on the game consistently with the hope of returning it to a fully playable state. Obviously this is a non-profit project by passionate fans who simply want to play the game. In the video SlightStardust shows off rudimentary gameplay that has a 2023 timestamp, showing that is is not old footage and is in-fact up and running. There’s also instructions on how to access the server emulator if you want to try it out for yourself.
Could this be the long awaited return of Marvel Heroes Omega? There is always a risk of copyright getting in the way of fan projects like this, but as long as there’s no profit involved there’s a chance the powers that be at Marvel and Disney let it slide and in a world where online-only and digital media can sadly disappear forever, I for one hope the project is allowed to flourish.
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