With how terrible Marvel’s Avengers was at launch, Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy was a nice surprise in terms of its gameplay, narrative and visual design. Overall critical praise (including our review) was very positive but unfortunately, launch sales had “undershot” publisher Square Enix’s “initial expectations.”
At the BAFTA video game awards, Eurogamer had a chance to speak to development team members like creative director Jean-Francois Dugas and senior narrative director Mary DeMarle. When asked about the sales, Dugas said, “I think it’s a great ride. It’s emotional. It has a lot of qualities. Is the game perfect? Like any game, no, I don’t think it’s perfect. It can always be better.
“But is it a great ride? And is it something this year or last year that you played that is unlike everything else? And is it worth spending your time on? I honestly think it is, from a game standpoint.” He also stated there were “no regrets.” “We did everything we could but that’s the reality of the market…
“And let’s not forget it’s a new IP. Even though we say all ‘Guardians [of the Galaxy] are known’, it’s still a new IP [in the video game market]. It could be that a lot of people don’t even know that the game is out yet, or they’re not sure exactly what it is.”
The recent launch on Game Pass – which Microsoft allegedly paid $5 to 10 million for – has led to some improvement. “It’s like anything. We always want to sell trillions but it’s not always necessarily as easy as that.”
DeMarle said, “For me, it’s all about creating the game. What I love right now is that people, especially with Games Pass, are playing it and they’re sharing the experience. We make games to touch people, we make games to hit an audience. And it’s great that it’s finding its audience, and it’s great that it keeps going forward.”
Will there be a sequel at some point? Dugas isn’t keen on committing to anything but also won’t rule it out entirely. “Right now, we’re not talking about the future, because every time we close a project, that’s a time to pull down, wrap up and take some vacations. So, I guess we’ll know in the future months or years what we’re going to work on next, so we’ll see. Never say never, and never say anything.”
Dugas does have some “ideas” as to where the cast could go next but confirmed nothing. DeMarle also said, “I don’t like to give anything away for the future.”
Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy is currently available for Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, PS4, PS5, PC and Nintendo Switch.
