Implies game cost $100 million to make.
It’s no shocker that Marvel’s Avengers hasn’t quite been up to Square Enix’s liking, but this week’s publication of quarterly income goes to show just how much the game under-performed. Square Enix reported operating income dropped in the red by 6.5 billion yen related to their HD Games sector (that sector including the recent launches of Marvel’s Avengers and Final Fantasy VII Remake).
Astris Advisory Japan co-founder David Gibson speculated based on this information that Avengers cost over $100 million to make but only sold three million copies. Actually that cost probably goes up to around $170-180 million.
Can Crystal Dynamics pull Marvel’s Avengers from the ditch they’ve driven it into? It’s been done before at Square with Final Fantasy XIV, so you never know. MMO Fallout reviewed Avengers in September and commented; “If you presented me this and said “Connor, this is what the game will always be like and it will never receive updates” I would probably suggest waiting until it hits the $30 bin which it will presumably do regardless because games do not hold their $60 value outside of Nintendo’s first party titles these days.”
Square Enix – reported Yen6.5bn loss for HD Games driven by Marvel Avengers, would not say how many sold but that volumes were 60% of plan. Implies game cost over $100m to make but only sold 3m or so. Ouch
— David Gibson (@gibbogame) November 6, 2020
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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
MMO Fallout 