Square Enix: Marvel’s Avengers and Guardians of the Galaxy Lost $200 Million, Outriders Still Not Profitable

At the beginning of the week, we learned that Square-Enix gave up his studios Crystal Dynamics, Eidos Montreal and Square Enix Montreal to Embrace Groupagainst 300 million dollars, allowing the Swedish ogre to add to its catalog licenses like tomb Raider, Deus Ex and Thief.

The sum seems derisory given the deductibles, and yet, Square-Enix obviously needed to get cash quickly, the fault of two games which cost him dearly. According to the analyst David Gibson, Square-Enix reportedly lost $200 million due to failures of Marvel’s Avengers and Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy. The first did not appeal because of its content, the second suffered from the bad publicity of the first, and the publisher has thus lost a lot in two years.

Another game edited by Square-Enix did not meet with the expected success, Outriders, the looter shooter developped by People Can Fly. Last year, we learned that the developer did not receive the promised royalties when Outriders became profitable. Well, in his last balance sheet, People Can Fly announces that he still hasn’t received anything, Outriders therefore did not bring in a penny for the studios in 2021. And even over the long term, the developer no longer believes in it:

The group has not received any royalties from the publisher for the period up to December 31, 2021, meaning that as of the closing date, the net proceeds from the sale of Outriders were insufficient to recoup costs and expenses incurred by the publisher to develop, distribute and promote the title.

There can be no assurance that the net proceeds from the sale of Outriders in future periods will be sufficient to enable the publisher to recover costs incurred and pay royalties to the band.

Hard blow for the studios, which intended to make Outriders a license and who continue to take care of their game with updates, including the extension Worldslayer which will arrive next month. Despite this obvious failure, Square-Enix retained the license, for two possible reasons: he intends to straighten the bar, or he knows very well that it is not worth a penny. However, he had no trouble parting ways with tomb Raider, which has 88 million copies sold, just with the major opuses. You can find the games with Lara Croft on discount on Gamesplanet.

Clint008 Writer – Tester