Digital Entertainment – HD Games, the game division at Square Enix, has posted an operating loss of $48 million (¥5 billion/£36 million) for Q2 FY2020. This dismal performance can be attributed to the catastrophic launch of Marvel’s Avengers, the live service action game developed by Crystal Dynamics. Sales were pretty weak and plummeted after multiple reviews pointed out the banal and repetitive nature of the game. There was not much combat variety among the hero characters and the cookie-cutter robotic enemies and a handful of boss-fights didn’t inspire players to keep playing.
First reported by PC Gamer, Square Enix declined to disclose the sales numbers for Marvel’s Avengers. Tweets by game industry analyst David Gibson made the picture clearer – Marvel’s Avengers failed to hit the sales targets that Square Enix had set. Check out more details in their publicly released Financial Results Briefing Session.
Marvel Avengers- it looks like the total cost of the game is closer to $170m-$190m given they only expenses 70% of cost in the qtr plus marketing costs. Why someone didn’t say stop post the multiplayer beta will remain a mystery . Square are adamant they can make a recovery ….
— David Gibson (@gibbogame) November 7, 2020
The game is having a tough time engaging its present audience too: it currently sits at a concurrent playerbase of less than 1000 players daily. The developers have delayed the Kate Bishop DLC from the roadmap, and also shifted the release of the game on next-gen consoles to 2021. They also permanently reduced the price of takedowns and emotes that you can buy from the in-game marketplace. To boost player numbers, they are now giving away free credits (in-game currency) for just logging in!
Let’s hope that Square Enix and Crystal Dynamics can turn around and make this into a game worth playing! According to our review by IndianNoob, the game has good potential but “finds itself burdened with the same problems of its contemporaries like repetitive mission structures and unsatisfying rewards“. What do you think about the game? Will they be able to turn around and make a comeback similar to No Man’s Sky or GTA Online?