Square Enix explains reasons for Marvel’s Avengers’ failure, still committed to producing more GaaS titles

While Square Enix calls Marvel’s Avengers an “ambitious title,” it acknowledges that it turned out to be a disappointment. The company has addressed the issues, citing the pandemic and wrong management decisions as reasons for its failure.

Square Enix president Yosuke Matsuda shared a message to shareholders in the company’s latest financial report.

Speaking of Marvel’s Avengers results, he said that Square Enix faced some unexpected difficulties in the final phase of the development. The main problem was trying to switch to remote work amid the pandemic.

Matsuda also noted that Crystal Dynamics might have been the wrong studio to choose for the development of a GaaS title. The studio is known for creating single-player games, so the game design approach needed for Avengers just didn’t fit the team.

“Nonetheless, taking on the GaaS model highlighted issues that we are likely to face in future game development efforts such as the need to select game designs that mesh with the unique attributes and tastes of our studios and development teams,” the statement reads.

Yosuke Matsuda went on to say that the importance of the GaaS model will become more visible in the future, as video games are getting more service-oriented. “How we go about creating new experiences by incorporating this trend into our game design is a key question that we will need to answer going forward,” he noted.

Despite the plans to develop more service-oriented projects in the future, Square Enix recently released a fully single-player game Guardians of the Galaxy. The Eidos Montreal-developed title was praised by players and critics for its story, characters, and completeness, especially in the era when games keep getting longer and bloated with content.