Square Enix Says Crystal Dynamics Was Wrong For Marvel’s Avengers
Image: Crystal Dynamics

Square Enix has kind of thrown Crystal Dynamics under the bus with a recent statement that suggests the studio was not the right team for Marvel's Avengers.

In Square Enix's 2021 annual report, president Yosuke Matsuda spoke about how Marvel's Avengers was not as successful as the company "would have liked".

"I would also note that “Marvel’s Avengers” was an ambitious title for us in that we took on the GaaS (Games as a Service) model. 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."

Instead of admitting that the Games as a Service approach was perhaps not the best, Matsuda doubled down by saying saying Square Enix "need[s] to select game designs that mesh with the unique attributes and tastes of our studios and development teams". Matsuda went on to say that Marvel's Avengers was a "disappointing outcome" for the company, but he remains confident the Games as a Service approach will work in the future.

"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 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."

It could be argued that Marvel's Avengers failed because a GaaS mentality was forced into the game. Buried underneath the mess is a fantastic single-player campaign with the quality and polish we expect from Crystal Dynamics. Unfortunately, there's a lot of unnecessary fluff surrounding everything that left a sour taste in many players' mouths.

Luckily, Marvel's Avengers has seen a boost in players since its inclusion into Xbox Game Pass, but that was squandered by the recent addition of paid consumables. These have since been removed, but even so, it's constantly felt like the wrong decisions for the game have been made over the past year.

There's definitely something in there that works, it just needs to be allowed to come to fruition.

What do you think of Square Enix's comments on Marvel's Avengers? Let us know in the comments below.

[source hd.square-enix.com]