Very soon after the announcement of the sale of the European branch of Square Enix to Embracer, observers saw a connection with the failures of games under Marvel license, supporting figures.
This will come as no surprise to many players who have seen the damage for themselves. If several voices very quickly considered that the sale of part of Square Enix to Embracer this Monday was a way for the Japanese group to get rid of a financial burdenanalysts have been in more detail.
200 million loss because of Marvel
According to David Gibsona well-known analyst in the world of video games, who works for MST Financial, Marvel games precipitated the company’s decision. In total, in just under two years, the studio lost $200 million along with Marvel’s Avengers and Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy (although the latter is highly appreciable). In February, the studio also admitted a commercial failure.
Very popular and therefore very expensive IPs sold by Marvel Games to Square Enix but which, in the end, were not reimbursed in terms of sales and (many) micro-transactions. The Japanese group, rather flourishing on the other side of the planet, has therefore preferred to cut at the source by collecting 300 million dollars just to cover the losswhile keeping historical and low-risk franchises like Final Fantasy, Dragon Quest or SaGa.
Marvel – that’s the reason why Square sold its NA team for $300m. Because in a little under two years they lost $200m on two Marvel games. But it still looks like a low price given the optionality on probably 4 AAA titles coming through. #SquareEnix #Embrace
— David Gibson (@gibbogame) May 2, 2022
However, Gibson questions the sale price, quite low according to him, since there would be four new AAA Marvel titles coming from Crystal Dynamics. Waiting, Square Enix has announced that it is using this money to good effect by investing in blockchain, cloud gaming and AI projects..
