"Guardians Of The Galaxy" may have sold better (and is much better-received) than "Marvel's Avengers," but Square Enix still considers its sales underwhelming. At least the initial ones that is.
guardians of the galaxy on steam
According to GamesRadar, the game's launch sales "undershot" Square Enix's expectations despite its relative success compared to the controversial "Avengers." The company revealed the numbers during February's recently concluded financial results briefing.
Once they saw that the sales numbers weren't to their expectations, Square Enix vowed to "make up" for it by keeping the sales going this year.
Company president Yosuke Matsuda said in a statement that while the initial sales numbers were underwhelming, their initiatives which kicked off last November 2021, "have resulted in sales growth."
But the sales figures aren't the whole story. During its first few days after launch, "Guardians Of The Galaxy" got off to a really slow start, as reported by The Gamer. Its peak player count only went to almost 10,000 concurrent players at its highest on day one, which is actually well below what the reviled "Marvel's Avengers" had during the same period.
For now, however, some fans are actually hoping that with the poor reception of Square Enix's Marvel adaptations, other long-defunct franchises can see the light of day. The "Deus Ex" universe is among these franchises, which hasn't seen a mainline release since 2016's "Deus Ex: Mankind Divided."
This basically means that Square Enix would look to recoup as much of their investment as possible with "Guardians Of The Galaxy" as 2022 rolls on. They're hoping that their Marvel games will get to see a community develop around them, much like how 2018's "Spider-Man" on the PS4 is still being enjoyed roughly four years later (via GameRant).
"Guardians Of The Galaxy" is out now on both current-gen and last-gen consoles, as well as PC.
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'Guardians Of The Galaxy' Just Can't Get Out Of The 'Avengers' Shadow
To say that "Marvel's Avengers" was a colossal disappointment for Square Enix is a massive understatement. They likely went in hoping that a Marvel game would have as much success as its MCU counterparts, but alas, they were mistaken.
This is probably one of the biggest reasons for the underwhelming sales numbers for "Guardians Of The Galaxy," despite its far more positive reception. A review by Bloomberg commended the game for its fun action-adventure romp, but it still can't shake the shadow of the "Avengers" because of just how badly its predecessor did.
Much of the bad stuff about "Avengers" was its universally reviled implementation of microtransactions, as well as its poor, boring gameplay loop that made PCGamer want to "put the game out of its misery." As such, it is understandable that this would leave a bad taste in players' mouths, who were likely very wary about "Guardians Of The Galaxy" when it first launched.
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Story posted on GameNGuide
Written by RJ Pierce