From mixed and poor reviews commenting on the short campaign and underwhelming combat; Marvel’s Avengers certainly underperformed Square Enix’s expectations. First revealed in June of 2019, Marvel’s Avengers surprised many superhero fans and gamers. Combining the action of six of Earth’s mightiest heroes is exhilarating to see. Despite this, the launch in September was very lackluster to say the least. Stating their hopes in replicating the sales figures of Insomniacs Marvel’s Spider-Man on PS4, it’s evident that this was not feasible. Yet, Square Enix still plans on continuing support in the wake of poor sales figures not making up the development cost. With the fiscal reports discussing all aspects of Square Enix’s revenue, it’s clear their profit margins did not meet their expectations. Thanks to a recent translation of Square Enix fiscal reports, company president Yosuke Matsuda is confident in recouping costs with future expansions.
Despite still making 16 billion yen profit, the year over year sales for 2020 releases show the minimal increase in profit margins. Reportedly costing over 170 million dollars to produce, Square might be waiting for a few more years until the profits begin to show. In fact, most of the cost for Marvel’s Avengers came from the extended advertising campaign to make up for the COVID-19 delay earlier this year. In spite of this, Marvel’s Avengers has a long way to go before attracting new customers with lucrative content updates.
Until the next gen launch of Marvel’s Avengers, Square Enix has a huge uphill sales battle awaiting them. With Kate Bishop launching on December 8 as one of the first DLC characters with Hawkeye joining in 2021. With many more promised DLC characters on the way ranging from Spider-Man on PlayStation, Black Panther and even Ant-Man who was announced with the title; Square Enix needs to deliver on these promises to bring in a fresh playerbase. While the title is now 50% off on all platforms for seasonal deals, fans might want to wait for more concrete details to emerge before jumping into the crime fighting fray. Will you be jumping into the Marvel excitement, or will you be staying far away until new characters and content? Let me know in the comments below!