Meta shut down MARVEL Powers United VR (2018) back in 2021, the online co-op game released exclusively on Oculus Rift by Meta-owned studio Sanzuru Games. A recent fan project dedicated to reviving the game gave fans a glimmer of hope that they may even be able to play online again, but Meta has now shut that down too.

As reported by Video Gamer, the short-lived ‘Powers Revival’ project has been shut down, citing copyright infringement by IP holder Meta.

“Unfortunately, we regret to announce today that the ‘Powers Revival Project’ will be closed and completely removed in the following days,” organizers announced in the project’s Discord over the weekend. The Discord first opened its doors on August 20th, making for a fairly rapid response by Meta.

The project’s scope was to promote software tools so users could select game levels, and therefore play all of Marvel Powers United VR’s single player content. It also appears Powers Revival came fairly close to releasing multiplayer servers too, which is a shame.

Issues appeared to stem however from the group providing players with direct links to torrents so users could install Marvel Powers United VR content in its entirety, reasoning that many such legitimate owners had already deleted their game files as suggested by Meta back in 2021 “to avoid dead space taken up on your device.”

“While we, in good faith, wanted to help legitimate game owners download the game as most had already uninstalled it at Meta’s request after shutdown, that ultimately ended up being a terrible decision as we were unintentionally infringing on the copyrighted files belonging to Meta Platforms (MP). As would be expected, they’ve kindly asked us to take down this project and any infringing files.”

SEE ALSO
Meta Opens Project Aria to Researchers Tackling All-day AR Challenges

The revival group said over the weekend they’re still attempting to negotiate with Meta, although admits “it’s highly unlikely and if we don’t hear back positively the [Discord] server will be deleted as scheduled.” An announcement message from group organizers notes today is the “dawn of the final day. 24 hours remains.”

In its wake, the Powers Revival project is urging players to sign the Stop Killing Games initiative, which seeks to end the practice of publishers deleting video games they have sold to customers.

What’s more, all of this was in service of a game that received mostly middling scores for essentially offering up a super hero-flavored wave shooter, albeit letting you play as 18 different Marvel heroes, such as Black Widow, Captain America, Spider-Man, Storm, The Hulk, and Wolverine.

Still, its overall production value and ability to let you cosplay as your favorite superhero was a highpoint not worth overlooking. At the time of this writing, the fan revival Discord has nearly 6,000 members.

Thanks to Antony Vitillo of Skarred Ghost for pointing us to the news.

Newsletter graphic

This article may contain affiliate links. If you click an affiliate link and buy a product we may receive a small commission which helps support the publication. More information.


Scott Hayden
Well before the first modern XR products hit the market, Scott recognized the potential of the technology and set out to understand and document its growth. He has been professionally reporting on the space for nearly a decade as Editor at Road to VR, authoring more than 4,000 articles on the topic. Scott brings that seasoned insight to his reporting from major industry events across the globe.
  • ViRGiN

    Remember when Valve shut down Team Fortress: Source 2?
    ViRGiN remembers.

    • ZarathustraDK

      They didn't shut down Team Fortress 2 though, so shutting down Team Fortress 2 Source makes sense in that TF2S directly competes with Valve's own IP (using Valve's own IP), rather than being an attempt at resurrecting a "dead" game that has been shuttered and isn't generating any income.

      • ViRGiN

        Gayben. If you knew anything about TF2, you would know it’s fully abandoned by Valve. The game is q7 years old!
        It’s not apples to oranges, it’s identical situation, and Valve isn’t your friend

        • ZarathustraDK

          Nope, I can literally download and play TF2 right now on Steam if I want to. I cannot play Marvel Powers United VR on Quest in the same way even if I wanted to.

          It's exactly apples and oranges.

          • ViRGiN

            It’s not. TF2 is in abandoned state, and the game has been riddled with bots and exploits for ages.
            In both cases, it’s the owners shutting down _fan_ projects. And everyone was conditioned to believe Valve were the good guys.

            So no matter the details about the game, no matter if it’s “playable” or not, it’s the copyright owners stepping in to protect their assets.

          • Dirk

            You are an idiot

  • VRDeveloper

    The USA urgently needs to develop laws that protect these intellectual properties from big techs, and the same applies to game ROMs that are no longer even sold. This is a clear abuse by an economic elite.

  • another juan

    can even meta by itself allow the use of disney's IPs outside their existing legal agreements?

  • LazyFox

    These people didn't even do the minimum "This is all our code and the original game data files are on you" thing?
    What did they expect?

    I mean, even though I ignored the original release, it's always cool when fans are able to bring back dead games, but there's a way to do it and a way not to.

    • PPBOI

      Im in their discord server and they claim they only put up links for the download and this was (for most of them) their first project which is why they made those dumb mistakes

  • Korgen

    De vrais enculés chez meta.

  • Coolesscat

    Well the good news is that the c

  • Coolesscat

    Well the good news is the cats already out of the bag so at least everyone can experience the game with the loader. I have been trying to play this for years. The only thing that would be nice is to make a way to have local area network co-op so it could be enjoyed by a group in some form? Its a disgrace that this was a pack in game for the rift and it was delisted. Imagine doing that to mario halo, sonic, or god of war.

  • I own a Meta headset, but seriously, screw Meta, this is ridiculous, the game is and has been, DEAD, for years at this point. I understand not letting people play online but come on

  • Anonymous

    The amount of hypocrites in the community makes me want to puke. Meta is not the first nor the last one to ever do this, but when it is the other companies these hypocrites happily look the other way.

    Also for fuck sake, the game wasn't even received that well either. If it was a system seller there would be no need to do this. Don't act as if you never already voted with your wallet.

    • jaqjaq

      It's not about shutting the game down (which is its own problem and should be mitigated by the developer), but the fact that after users revived it using their own resources, made it work, Meta comes in and shuts it down again – even though they have zero reason to do so.

      And yeah, internet is not a singular entity. I am just as angry at Ubisoft for shutting down The Crew and at Focus for shutting down Hood. These are insanely profitable companies with a ton of cash and the costs of running game servers on life support for those few dozens of people is silly low.

      It doesn't matter how the game was received. It's art and it should be protected. It's a product (not a service) that people paid for – and they should be allowed to play it without an expiration date.