Square Enix’s games division reported a loss of 6.5 billion yen for the quarter ended September 30th, driven mainly by the underwhelming performance of Marvel’s Avengers. The publisher didn’t reveal any sales figures, but it looks like the exorbitant cost of developing the game made matters worse.
According to Japan-based analyst David Gibson, Marvel’s Avengers only managed to sell 60 percent of its sales target. This implies that the game cost over $100 million to develop, but only sold around 3 million copies, which isn’t enough to recuperate costs.
“It looks like the total cost of the game is closer to $170m-$190m given they only expense 70 percent of cost in the quarter, plus marketing costs,” Gibson noted. “Why someone didn’t say ‘stop’ post the multiplayer beta will remain a mystery. Square are adamant they can make a recovery.”
Marvel’s Avengers sat atop a number of sales charts following its release. In the U.S., it was September’s best-selling game and the second-best launch of a superhero title in the country’s history. Marvel’s Avengers is also the second-biggest digital launch for Square Enix after Final Fantasy VII Remake. However, the game ran into a number of issues and experienced a dwindling player base, which Crystal Dynamics acknowledged.
“We are listening. We are making fixes, improvements, and additions as fast as we safely can to make Marvel’s Avengers the game we all aspire it to be,” studio head Scot Amos told Kotaku last month. “We are confident that we’ll see PC players (as well as those on Xbox One and PlayStation 4) return to the game as we add exciting new late-game content and demonstrate that we continue to be focused on improving the game.”
[Source: David Gibson]
