Just last week, Square Enix announced that Spider-Man would be coming exclusively to Marvel’s Avengers for the PS4. While many did not take that news lightly, it seems that Square Enix is in fact not done with securing content behind a platform, as today it has been revealed that a set of skins are now being locked behind specific mobile providers phones.
This news comes from Twitter user JayShockBlast who received a notification from his cell phone provider, Verizon that some exclusive perks will be made available to him. When he checked it out, he discovered that besides access to the beta there were some exclusive skins that he would get for just a portion of Verizon.
If you have Verizon check back on Monday I’m Verizon Up. Apparently there is a way to get these skins. pic.twitter.com/pRD14lPUo8
– JayShockblast (@JayShockblast) August 9, 2020
He later released a video update confirming that Virgin Mobile, another mobile phone provider, would also get some exclusive skins for it apart from its network.
It was announced last year that Virgin Media subscribers would receive some exclusive content ranging from both physical and in-game rewards. At the time, it was not known what kind of in-game rewards the carrier would provide, although I think from the image above that we now know. To make matters worse, there are other deals that were revealed earlier this year with other companies, one of which is with 5 Gum. 5Gum’s Marvel’s Avengers exclusive content ranges from in-game nameplates, exclusive emotes, and PlayStation avatars. And of course, there are the PlayStation’s Store Marvel’s Avengers pre-ordered bonuses.
This would not be the first time that Square Enix went overboard with exclusive in-game content locked behind other products. Final Fantasy 7 Remake, for example, had cross-promotions with Butterfingers, and last gen, Deus Ex Mankind Divided had a very terrible pre-order scheme where the more people who pre-ordered, the more bonuses would be unlocked. Of course, there are the 1-year exclusivity contracts for some of their titles. We’m not sure how we feel about this, because the Spider-Man deal has already cut it with fans. Despite these being cosmetics only, we can see the frustration because it just means more protected content. We are sure that these will eventually be available to everyone, but how long is anyone to guess.
Marvel’s Avengers will be released next month on PS4, Xbox One, PC, and Stadiums.
