Doom and gloom have befallen Square Enix with their financial statements posting if one believes the hype from various outlets. The truth of the matter is far less bleak for the company but does demonstrate the company’s gaming division outside MMOs suffered a massive loss with the release and poor performance of The Avengers.
Like most companies, Square Enix is comprised of multiple divisions, each of which has a dedicated section on the company’s financial statement. The company’s main divisions are HD Games that joined the covid-19 impacted amusement division in posting losses. MMO’s who saw continued revenue growth throughout the year. Mobile who continued its recovery from the previous Q4 dip. Publication continued to grow throughout the year, and finally, merchandising that saw a performance dip in Q2 yet maintained profitability throughout the quarter.
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
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As highlighted by Twitter user David Gibson, the gaming division posted 6.5-Billion-yen loss (62,882,742.00 Dollars or 52,956,787.00 Euro). Said loss is directly attributed to the poor sales and continued performance of the recently released GaaS title Marvel’s The Avengers.
Even before release, the game was marred in controversy over their insistence on focusing on discount Mr. Fantastic, aka Kamala Khan. After blowback and disappointment, the developers stated she would not be the core focus of the game, only for that at launch to be revealed to be untrue. Ironically, given the character’s disinterest, she became one of the game’s strongest elements.
She nor the other positive aspects of the game could overcome what players referred to as a lackluster and dull design. One whose core focus was on loot acquisition yet had loot and equipment have virtually no impact on the overall game. Combined with a lack of a satisfying endgame, player interest dropped off fairly quickly after launch and with them reoccurring revenue from microtransactions.
Announcing Xbox and Pc players could pound sand as exclusive content came to Playstation didn’t improve the game’s publics perception. Square Enix says it is confident it can right this ship. Yet, all future ventures now enjoy the same mistake of signing Sony exclusivity, tying the company’s success to that of the Playstation 5. A mistake the company may strongly come to regret.
