Marvel’s Avengers Development Costs Still Not Recouped

It’s no secret that Marvel’s Avengers had a troubled launch, either due to the massive amount of bugs or lack of end-game content. Last week, it was reported that it had resulted in a huge operating loss for Square Enix in the HD Games sub-segment. With the recent Q&A for its Q2 fiscal year results ending March 2021, Square Enix revealed that development costs haven’t even been recouped yet.

President Yosuke Matsuda stated that, “Sales of Marvel’s Avengers were lower than we had expected and unable to completely offset the amortization of the game’s development costs.” Operating losses totaled ¥7 billion (which is about $67 million USD) for this segment in the company’s last quarter. As for whether Square Enix couldn’t have anticipated the reasons for lower sales and done something in advance, Matsuda replied that, “We engaged in ample preparations ahead of the launch, but it is true that there were aspects in which we were wanting. We intend to leverage the lessons we learned from this experience in future game development efforts.”

Sales and profits in the sub-segment rose year-over-year thanks to titles like Final Fantasy 7 Remake and Marvel’s Avengers, not to mention the company’s catalog titles and licenses. So while it isn’t all bad news, there’s certainly a few questions to be asked about how Marvel’s Avengers will proceed going forward. To be fair, Square Enix managed to turn Final Fantasy 14, a disaster in its own right at launch, into one of the most popular subscriber-based MMOs.

Time will certainly tell. In the meantime, Marvel’s Avengers will see the addition of Kate Bishop this December, followed by Clint Barton next year and eventually, Spider-Man.