Marvel's Avengers — developed by Crystal Dynamics and published by Square Enix, with an estimated budget of $170–190 million — was released September 4, 2020 on PlayStation 4, Xbox One, PC and Stadia. Square Enix expected it to sell five million copies by the end of September; it sold three million.
The miss showed up in the books immediately: Square Enix's half-year results revealed roughly ¥6.5 billion ($63 million) of losses in the HD games segment in the quarter, which analyst David Gibson of Astris Advisory attributed primarily to Avengers' poor sales. President Yosuke Matsuda later called the game's outcome 'disappointing' while defending the games-as-a-service approach.
Square Enix ended official support on September 30, 2023, delisting the game from digital storefronts after a final update in March. The project stands as the most expensive failure in the publisher's modern history — a licensed superhero game that sold millions and still lost tens of millions.
Priced as a 5M-copy event, the $170–190M service game with thin endgame sold 3M and still lost tens of millions, as Marvel fans left after the campaign.
Square Enix priced the game as a 5M-copy event while shipping a service game with thin endgame content: players finished the campaign and left, and 3M sales could not carry a $170–190M cost.
The GaaS pivot ignored the property's audience: Marvel fans came for story and characters, and the game's grindy, loot-driven endgame answered a question nobody had asked.
The license was the trap: a $170–190M game carrying Marvel licensing costs needed blockbuster sales, but the release model matched neither the fans' expectations nor the service-game economics.
A license is a floor, not a ceiling: Marvel's Avengers sold 3 million copies and still lost tens of millions — the biggest risk is the gap between the name's reach and the product's pull.
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