New Square Enix Financial Report Implies Major Losses from Marvel’s Avengers Game

On November 6, 2020, Square Enix released a report of consolidated financial results for a six-month period ending on September 30, 2020. The report indicates that the Crystal Dynamics game, Marvel’s Avengers, led to losses for the company.

David Gibson, analyst and co-founder of Astris Advisory Japan, reported via tweet that Square Enix “would not say how many sold but that volumes were 60% of [the] plan.” Gibson went on to say that the data implies that the game sold 3 million copies, but had a budget of $100 million.

This is all despite the fact that the beta for the PlayStation 4 version of Marvel’s Avengers, which features Spider-Man as an upcoming exclusive, was the world’s most-downloaded beta on a PlayStation device to date. Sony’s PlayStation 4 also offered earlier access to the beta than any of the other consoles.

Marvel’s Avengers has also experienced a slew of recent delays. The Kate Bishop Operation (an update that adds gear, story, and a second Hawkeye named Kate Bishop) was pushed back from its original October release window so it could undergo “extensive internal testing.” Meanwhile, the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X versions of the game will not release for the 2020 Holiday season.

The Marvel’s Avengers game is currently available on the PlayStation 4, Xbox One, PC, and Google Stadia. It is expected to release at some point in 2021 for the Xbox Series X and PlayStation 5.