Driven by poor sales of Marvel's The Avengers, Square Enix's HD games division posted an operating loss of over 5 billion yen ($48 million) in the second quarter of this fiscal year. This information comes from the latest financial announcement for the six-month period from April to the end of September 2020. Marvel's Avengers, a live-service game developed by Crystal Dynamics, was heavily advertised and expensive to produce, but was heavily criticized by both critics and the broader gaming audience.

This is the second live-service game to fail, following BioWare's Anthem in 2019.

Square Enix's HD Games division is responsible for releasing major games, but not MMOs or mobile games. Despite the losses, the HD Games division did more business in both quarters of 2020 than in comparable periods in 2019. The MMO division, responsible for games like Final Fantasy XIV, posted profits in both quarters of this year.

Square Enix did not report sales numbers, but Tokyo-based game industry analyst David Gibson said in a tweet that sales were lower than Square Enix had planned, around 60% of the total number expected. Gibson further noted that based on figures reported by Square Enix, the game probably cost more than $170 million to produce.

The sales performance of "Marvel's Avengers" looks even weaker when compared to the "Final Fantasy VII" remake, which was released in April; the delay of the PS4-exclusive game and the Corona virus boosted the game's sales figures for the quarter. The success of "Marvel's Avengers," which was released on all platforms, was not nearly replicated.

Like the general gaming public, PC Gamer reviewers were less enthusiastic about "Marvel's Avengers" at launch. Reviewer Robert Zak described a "well-crafted campaign and story," but noted that "underneath is a pretty scuzzy service game" and that they were flimsy plywood.