Square Enix May Have Lost $200 Million on Marvel Games
Square Enix has been the subject of much theorycrafting as of late, thanks primarily to the fact that it has now sold off three of its major western game development studios and their related (and well-regarded) intellectual properties to Embracer Group. The company hasn't clarified the situation in detail, either, adding even more fuel to the discussions surrounding the deal.
New information about Square Enix continues to come out, however, and according to MST Financial, the publisher has lost $200 million between its two Marvel releases. This paints a reasonably clear picture as to why Square Enix would sell off both Crystal Dynamics and Eidos Montreal, who worked on Marvel's Avengers and Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy, respectively.
Square Enix Might Be Positioning Itself For Acquisition
Namely, while Guardians of the Galaxy found critical acclaim, it seems that the less favorably reviewed Avengers dragged it down in the grand scheme of things. MST Financial's analysis of the situation has shown that the company lost hundreds of millions of dollars on the production and marketing of these games, which seems to have been a tough pill for Square Enix to swallow. Sure enough, Guardians is building its audience via Game Pass now, but that seems to be too little and too late to have made a difference, as both properties are now sold off to Embracer Group.
Now that Embracer has acquired Square Enix's western studios, the company can focus on projects that seem to make more sense for it, such as Forspoken and the Final Fantasy franchise. Though, it's also worth pointing out that Square is retaining the rights to Outriders, Just Cause, and Life is Strange, which implies that these IPs have historically been comparatively more
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