Guardians of the Galaxy’s ‘underperformance’ is indicative of a wider problem

gamepur.com:

Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy was definitely one of the biggest gaming surprises of 2021. Even though slapping the Marvel logo and its characters on anything is enough to get people to pay attention, there seemed to be very little hype surrounding the game following its announcement at E3 2021. Maybe people were still feeling burnt by Square Enix’s Avengers game, which gained notoriety for its live service elements, use of microtransactions, and constant controversies. Whatever the reason, there was just a general sense of apathy towards it.

Then the reviews started to come out and, while some outlets liked it more than others, a quick glance at Guardians of the Galaxy’s Metacritic pages shows an overwhelmingly positive reception from critics and fans alike. Many began to pick the game up thanks to word of mouth and, soon enough, it became a Game of the Year contender for some people. More recently, it was named Adventure Game of the Year and received the award for Outstanding Achievement in Story at the DICE Awards.

There is a lot of love for Guardians of the Galaxy, which makes recent comments from Square Enix all the more frustrating. In the company’s most recent financial results, it stated that the game’s launch sales had “undershot” expectations. Admittedly, Square Enix hasn’t written it off as a failure, adding that sales have improved since its launch and it’s working to “expand sales to make up for the title’s slow start.” That doesn’t make Square Enix’s comments any less infuriating.

It’s hard to take Square Enix seriously considering it has not shared what the game’s launch sales and what the company’s expectations actually were. How are we supposed to believe it underperformed if we don’t have any figures?