Square Enix’s Marvel’s Avengers has regularly been a punching bag over the past year due to its many issues. The disappointment for the game was so great that it killed any hype for Square Enix’s next Marvel game, Guardians of the Galaxy. Even though, Guardians has now turned out to be a GOTY contender. Blame for the failure of Marvel’s Avengers has been thrown in every direction by fans. After all, that’s what consumers tend to do when a piece of media flops. What we don’t normally see, is the publisher throwing the developer under the bus.
That’s what Square Enix did during the company’s annual report. Square Enix president Yosuke Matsuda said that the failure of the game could be blamed on choosing the wrong studio. He said that Avengers being a Games as a Service title did not match the skills of Crystal Dynamics, a historically single-player focused developer.
Matsuda’s exact words were, “Nonetheless, taking on the GaaS model highlighted issues that we are likely to face in future game development efforts such as the need to select game designs that mesh with the unique attributes and tastes of our studios and development teams”
It’s odd to see a publisher put the failure of a game in such blatant terms. Especially when most players would probably blame Square Enix for wanting a GaaS title in the first place. As Eidos Montreal has proven, a full blown single-player Marvel title published by Square Enix can be a critical and commercial success.
Crystal Dynamics did a great job with the task they were given. It is the task itself, GaaS, that most gamers have issue with. This was most recently demonstrated by the massive negative reaction to Square Enix and Crystal Dynamics adding paid XP boosts to Avengers. Yosuke Matsuda may be laying blame at Crystal Dynamics’ door but most fans would lay it at Square Enix.