Despite earning generally favorable reviews and even a “best narrative” trophy at the 2021 Game Awards, Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy may not be getting a sequel anytime soon, according to a new financial report from Square Enix that reveals the publisher is not entirely pleased with the money that Eidos-Montréal’s action-adventure game has generated thus far. While there’s no real indication of how many copies Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy has managed to sell since its release in October 2021, Square Enix has publicly stated in its 3Q FY2022/3 Financial Results Briefing that the game “undershot” its initial expectations. It’s unclear what the publisher’s financial targets were for Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy, but Square Enix is hoping to improve its numbers by putting the game on sale more often.
3Q FY2022/3 Financial Results Briefing (Square Enix)
- While the HD Games sub-segment released such titles as “OUTRIDERS,” “NieR Replicant ver.1.22474487139…,” and “Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy,” its net sales were lower than in the same period of the previous fiscal year, which had seen the release of such titles as “FINAL FANTASY VII REMAKE” and “Marvel’s Avengers.”
- The HD Games sub-segment launched “Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy” in Q3. Despite strong reviews, the game’s sales on launch undershot our initial expectations.
- However, sales initiatives that we kicked off in November 2021 and continued into the new year have resulted in sales growth, and we intend to work to continue to expand sales to make up for the title’s slow start.
Square Enix Is Impossible To Please (Kotaku)
- At this point, it’s starting to seem like Square Enix is impossible to please. Square Enix viewed the 2013 reboot of Tomb Raider, the best-selling entry in one of gaming’s most iconic franchises, as a disappointment.
- Last spring, the co-op shooter Outriders, despite wide reports of busted functionality, took the world by storm, rapidly hitting more than 3.5 million players, with Square even saying it’s “on track to become the company’s next major franchise.” But by August, its developer, People Can Fly, said it had yet to receive any royalties from Square Enix.
- Also in 2017, sources told Kotaku that Square Enix quietly canceled a third entry in the Deus Ex reboot series—made by the same studio responsible for Guardians of the Galaxy—due to the most recent entry, 2016’s Deus Ex: Mankind Divided, not selling as much as the company expected. Which is possibly an infinite number.