author: Frozen
Square Enix's Half-year Results Reveal Marvel's Avengers Flopped Hard
Square Enix's recent financial results leave no illusions. Marvel's Avengers has brought enormous losses to the Japanese company.
- In the last quarter Square Enix suffered losses equal to Yen 6,5 billion (in the HD gaming segment);
- Large part of this was due to poor sales of Marvel's Avengers;
- The company's situation was saved by the commercial success of Final Fantasy VII remake.
Square Enix published its latest financial report for the six-month period from April 1 to September 30, 2020. The report shows that during the last quarter, the Japanese company recorded nearly 6.5 billion yen (ca. $63 million) of losses in the HD games segment. According to David Gibson, co-founder of analytical firm Astris Advisory Japan KK, Marvel's Avengers is primarily responsible for this poor result.
According to Gibson Square Enix expected to sell 5 million copies of Marvel's Avengers by the end of September. Meanwhile, the game has sold 3 million copies, which, with an estimated budget of 170-190 million dollars, is a very poor result. The fact that the release dates for PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S have been delayed to next year does not help the game either.
HD gaming is one of the three components of Square Enix's entire digital entertainment segment. Apart from HD games (e.g. Marvel's Avengers, Final Fantasy VII Remake and Outriders), there are also MMO games, and browser and Smart device games.
Interestingly, despite huge operating losses, in the last quarter Sqaure Enix's net turnover in the HD games segment amounted to 23.7 billion yen (approx. $233 million), which is more than twice as much as in the corresponding period in 2019. This is largely due to the spectacular success of Final Fantasy VII Remake. Will the Avengers, like the fourteenth installment of the former series, ever turn defeat into victory? Time will tell.
The net turnover and operating profit of Square Enix's HD gaming segment for the last six quarters.
Marvel's Avengers was released on September 4, 2020 on PC, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One.
