Square Enix Reports Massive Loss On Heels Of Marvel's Avengers Launch

Marvel's Avengers hasn't had the smoothest of starts, and while the team has been busy patching and getting things smoothed over, the issues did have an effect on the overall sales of the game according to a new financial report from Square Enix, the parent company of studio Crystal Dynamics. The new report reveals Saure Enix had a loss of 6.5 billion Yen in regards to its HD Games portfolio, which David Gibson points out was headed up by Marvel's Avengers. We don't know how many copies the game sold, but Square Enix did reveal that the sales were 60% of the planned sales totals, which is due to lower than expected sales and a loss in microtransactions.

"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"

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

The second tweet from Gibson goes into a bit further detail, saying that because only 70% of cost is reflected, the total cost of the game was probably around $170 to $190 million. So far Square Enix hasn't revealed how much the game cost to make either.

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

"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 ...."

The beta was a huge hit, drawing in millions of players, but with little time between the beta ended and the launch there wasn't much time to actually fix or change much of the game's flaws, and that led to some backlash. Since then the team has been working overtime to patch things and have done a remarkable job, but the issues and negative word of mouth have clearly affected sales and the cosmetic sales that were supposed to keep the money flowing until more content hit.

We'll keep you updated if Square Enix or Crystal Dynamics addresses the financials. You can find the official description for Marvel's Avengers below.

Marvel's Avengers is a unique take on these iconic Super Heroes, including Captain America, Iron Man, the Hulk, Black Widow, and Thor. This character-driven story celebrates authentic Marvel heroism and humanity in a cinematic campaign filled with single-player and co-op missions.

Marvel's Avengers is available on PS4, Xbox One, and PC now.

Do you think Marvel's Avengers can turn things around? Let us know what you think in the comments and you can always find me on Twitter @MattAguilarCB for all things gaming.