Square Enix CEO Yosuke Matsuda had quite a number of things to say about Marvel’s Avengers recently during the company’s annual report (Thanks, VGC). According to Matsuda, the game’s overall performance was disappointing and a lesson was learned. Specifically, Matsuda touched on the importance of matching development studios with game designs that best suit their skillsets and interests. This disappointment also reflects greatly on Crystal Dynamics, the developers of Marvel’s Avengers. Matsuda further states that although Marvel’s Avengers did not deliver as the company intended, future games may do so with better game design going forward. Here’s what he had to say:
“Marvel’s Avengers was an ambitious title for us in that we took on the GaaS (Games as a Service)
We overcame a variety of unexpected difficulties in the final phase of the game’s development, including needing to transition to work-from-home due to the pandemic. We were able to surmount these challenges and release the game, but it has unfortunately not proven as successful as we would have liked.
Nonetheless, taking on the GaaS model highlighted issues that we are likely to face in future game development efforts such as the need to select game designs that mesh with the unique attributes and tastes of our studios and development teams.
While the new challenge that we tackled with this title (Marvel’s Avengers) produced a disappointing outcome, we are certain that the GaaS approach will grow in importance as gaming becomes more service oriented. How we go about creating new experiences by incorporating this trend into our game design is a key question that we will need to answer going forward.”
Square Enix is planning to try out more service based games with different IPs and it will be interesting to see what comes next. In the meantime, stay tuned at Final Weapon for the latest gaming news and updates!
