However, while Marvel’s Avengers didn’t do as bad as it appears - we defended the game in a recent article - it appears that Square Enix thinks that Marvel’s Avengers was a disappointment.
Square Enix president is unhappy with Marvel’s Avengers
According to Square Enix’s 2021 Annual Report, company president Yosuke Matsuda explained that the company was not happy with the result of Marvel’s Avengers. In addition, Matsuda appeared to imply that Crystal Dynamics was not a good fit for Marvel’s Avengers and its Games as a Service approach. To quote, Matsuda said that Square Enix should “select game designs that mesh with the unique attributes and tastes of our studios and development teams.” It’s hard to say what Square Enix meant specifically, but it’s hard not to come up with the conclusion that it’s blaming Crystal Dynamics for Marvel’s Avengers shortcomings. To be fair, Crystal Dynamics probably had no say about the Games as a Service model. The longtime Tomb Raider studio hadn’t worked on a title that had a Games as a Service model before. Because of this, Crystal Dynamics probably was not well-equipped to handle Marvel’s Avengers development. To make matters worse, the Games as a Service model has a bad reputation. With that said, Crystal Dynamics is doing everything it can to salvage Marvel’s Avengers. Spider-Man is coming to the PlayStation version of the game on November 30 and who knows what else Crystal Dynamics has in store for the game in the future? If we’re being honest, Marvel’s Avengers isn’t a failure. It’s quite successful. The single-player campaign captured the spirit of the characters and the missions were spot-on. The only problem with Marvel’s Avengers is when it tried to get players to stick around after the credits rolled. Marvel’s Avengers shouldn’t have been designed as a live service game. Thankfully, Eidos-Montreal learned from this mistake with the more beloved Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy. Only time will tell if Square Enix and Crystal Dynamics will continue supporting Marvel’s Avengers in 2022 and beyond. It will also be interesting how Crystal Dynamics responds to Square Enix effectively throwing the studio under the bus.
