After years in development, Square Enix unleashed 2020’s “Marvel’s Avengers” game which hailed from “Tomb Raider” developer Crystal Dynamics.
Unlike their critically beloved first two entries in Lara Croft’s rebooted trilogy with their lavish single-player campaigns, this superhero RPG brawler was more of a live-service co-op game with reviews very mixed over the game’s repetitiveness, lack of substantial content and technical issues.
In November last year, Square Enix’s president said that title had been a commercial disappointment for them but as a service game it will be an “important focus” for the company in the future.
Last year however Square Enix seemed to have offered the best kind of reparations with “Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy” which hailed from “Deus Ex” developer Eidos Montreal.
Anticipation wasn’t high for the title but when it arrived the single player-centric game received excellent reviews and won a ‘Best Narrative’ honor at the Game Awards along with making it into multiple game of the year lists.
Critical acclaim however is different from sales. According to Games Radar, Square Enix’s recent quarterly earnings report this week saw them claiming the game underperformed at launch – saying it “undershot our initial expectations”. However, sales have been growing since and Square Enix have pledged to “work to continue to expand sales to make up for the title’s slow start.”
It has become a common complaint from Square Enix who’ve discussed ‘weak starts’ in recent years for titles like “Just Cause 4,” “Shadow of the Tomb Raider” and “Deus Ex: Mankind Divided” – three games which are seen as lesser entries in the wake of immediate predecessors (“Just Cause 3,” “Rise of the Tomb Raider,” “Deus Ex: Human Revolution”) that are seen as high points for their respective franchises.
Source: PC Gamer
