Marvel's Avengers Failure Caused by Poorly Chosen Studio; Square Enix Draws Conclusions
Square Enix has once again spoken out on the poor performance of Marvel's Avengers and admitted that it needs to match projects to the „unique qualities and talents” of its studios in the future.
- Yosuke Matsuda, president of Square Enix, spoke out on the failed debut of Marvel's Avengers;
- The game's development was said to be a valuable lesson for the publisher, including the topic of selecting studios for projects based on the "unique qualities and talents" of the developers;
- Moreover, Marvel's Avengers lost some of the new microtransactions that outraged the players.
Nobody likes to admit failure, but Square Enix has long had to accept that Marvel's Avengers was enything but a success. The company's president Yosuke Matsuda spoke about the reasons for the superhero game's failure during a summary of the last fiscal year. In his opinion, the fiasco of virtual Avengers was the result of, among others, poor choice of developer.
As we read in the report, work on Marvel's Avengers was an "ambitious project" for SE due to the fact that it's a live-service game, which is something the publisher hasn't been interested in before (if you don't count Final Fantasy XIV, which needed a few years and a thorough overhaul to convince the players). The lack of experience made itself known during the development process.
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One of the problems the publisher realized was, and we quote, "the need to match game designs to the unique qualities and talents" of each studio. In this context, this must be read as an admission that the choice of Crystal Dynamics as the developer of Marvel's Avengers was a misguided idea. Interestingly, in 2019, Matsuda thought the decision was a good one because of, as he argued in an interview with VentureBeat, the team's experience in creating action adventure games.
Nevertheless, it's hard to disagree with SE's conclusions when looking at the American developer's track record. Not only doesn't Crystal Dynamics' catalogue incluce any live-service games, but also network games in general. The only titles offering any form of multiplayer mode are the Tomb Raider spin-offs and Marvel's Avengers.
Despite the game's failure Square Enix is still interested in the live-service model. It's hardly surprising, since the most important competitors earn a fortune on this type of games. In this situation even the possible success of Guardians of the Galaxy, a title vastly different from Crystal Dynamics' work, will not mean that the next game about Marvel superheroes will not follow in the footsteps of Marvel's Avengers.
For now, the creators have caved in under fan criticism and removed some of the new microtransactions introduced last month. The developers hope that this is the first step towards regaining the trust of players and rebuilding the team's morale.
