Crystal Dynamics and Square Enix's Avengers game was a massive flop
PC Gamer is reporting that the Avengers-based video game with traces of political biases and such, coming as they did with the forced starring role of their Muslim Ms. Marvel, was a huge financial loss for the companies:
Driven by weak sales of Marvel's Avengers, Square Enix has posted an operating loss in its HD Games segment of more than ¥5 billion, or $48 million, for the second quarter of the current financial year. This information comes from the latest release of financial results, for the six month period of April through the end of September 2020. Marvel's Avengers, a live service game developed by Crystal Dynamics, was heavily advertised and expensively produced, but was panned by both critics and the broader gaming audience.Video Games Chronicle states the financial losses could be much higher:
It's the second high-profile failure of a live service game in as many years, following BioWare's Anthem in 2019.
Operating income took an even bigger hit from the previous quarter, down from ¥12.5bn profit to a ¥6.5bn loss. According to Japan-based analyst David Gibson, the figures suggest that Avengers cost Square Enix almost $190m to produce and market but only sold around 3 million units.That remains to be seen. So a game laced with the political correctness first brewed up during the Alonso regime, in the end, wound up costing them a mountain of money, and it could take time to recover from this fiasco. Also:
“It looks like the total cost of the game is closer to $170m-$190m given they only expense 70% of cost in the [quarter] plus marketing costs,” he said. “Why someone didn’t say stop post the multiplayer beta will remain a mystery. Square are adamant they can make a recovery”.
In the US, Avengers appeared to make a strong start, where it was September’s best-selling game. However, by October it was reported that matchmaking problems in Avengers were being exacerbated by a declining player count, with the PC version dipping below 1,000 concurrent players.Sounds like multiplayer option isn't appealing to the wider crowd either, due to the considerable bugs reportedly plaguing the game, particularly on home computer consoles. Why, what if it turns out the whole game was really produced just to push a propaganda narrative, to the point the gameplay merit was neglected? That would be telling quite a bit about the video game industry's conduct, just as much as the comics industry's.
Even on console, finding other players to group up with has reportedly become more difficult since the game launched in September.
If this game could fail so badly, that could be a sign of what's to come with the next Marvel-based game, suggesting their star power is beginning to fade. And if a game contains politically motivated elements, that's all the more bound to guarantee mediocre receipts, if not a total fiasco. Presumably, there won't be a sequel to this Avengers game, and with the way it's built more as a spotlight for Kamala Khan than the Earth's Mightiest Heroes themselves, that's why it's better to save money. I'm not sorry the game wound up becoming such a floundering dud.
Labels: Avengers, islam and jihad, licensed products, marvel comics, msm propaganda, politics, sales, technology
