Marvel’s Avengers Revealed To Be A Disappointment To Square Enix In Annual Report

Square Enix’s annual report has been released for its fiscal year 2021. This includes information about the games published during the COVID pandemic. The report reveals that Marvel’s Avengers was not proven to be a success, but lessons have been learned.

Taking on a Games as a Service (or GaaS) model, Marvel’s Avengers was described as an “ambitious title” for Square Enix. Complexities that arise from planning for a title-focused service, and the change to developers who work remotely added more complexity. “We were able to surmount these challenges and release the game, but it has unfortunately not proven as successful as we would have liked,” says Square Enix President Yosuke Matsuda in the report.

Matsuda sees the silver lining in this project and views it as an opportunity to learn. He says, “Nonetheless, taking on the GaaS model highlighted issues that we are likely to face in future game development efforts such as the need to select game designs that mesh with the unique attributes and tastes of our studios and development teams.” As a result of finding out certain lessons of GaaS the hard way, Matsuda says, “While the new challenge that we tackled with this title produced a disappointing outcome, we are certain that the GaaS approach will grow in importance as gaming becomes more service-oriented.”

Square Enix’s Avengers was not the only Square Enix game that suffered during the first days of the pandemic. In reference to Final Fantasy VII Remake, Matsuda says, “At one point, even whether the release would be possible was thrown into question.” COVID, although it is directly mentioned prior to this, could possibly be referring to the challenging development that the game went through in its initial stages. FFVII Remake released in April 2021, and it turned out perfectly.

It will be interesting to see what parts of Marvel’s Avengers have been selected and improved on for the future. The game is still receiving support from Square Enix with the recent release of Black Panther, the War for Wakanda expansion, and the continual tweaking of its XP systems. You can now play the game through Xbox Game Pass.

What would you like to see become a Games as a Service mainstay from the Avengers experience? Assemble to discuss it in the comments!