Marvel’s Avengers was the second-biggest digital launch ever for a Square Enix game, coming in only behind this year’s Final Fantasy 7 Remake. While Marvel’s Avengers has had a rough time since launch, things may be looking up for Final Fantasy 7 Remake, which recently got an update that appears to be setting it up for a PlayStation 5 upgrade.
While the extent of Marvel’s Avengers sales success is impressive, it’s not entirely surprising that it’s selling so well. Despite some missteps in pre-release marketing and mixed preview impressions, the game’s beta drew 5 million players, and players flocked to the final release. On launch week, Marvel’s Avengers was the top-selling physical game in the UK and captured plenty of attention elsewhere in the world, too.
With a little more distance from the game’s release, it’s clear exactly how much of a sensation Marvel’s Avengers was at launch. According to games industry analyst SuperData, Marvel’s Avengers was Square Enix’s second-biggest digital game launch ever, with only Final Fantasy 7 Remake beating it. Marvel’s Avengers sold 2.2 million digital copies in September, which SuperData says is about the same number that Marvel’s Spider-Man sold at launch two years ago.
Although Marvel’s Avengers has been a massive sales success for Square Enix, the news hasn’t all been good for the anticipated superhero team-up game. At launch, Marvel’s Avengers was a buggy mess, with players reporting progression-breaking issues as well as less severe problems like poor AI and graphical hiccups. Developer Crystal Dynamics has been working to fix the game, at one point squashing more than 1,000 bugs in a single patch, and promises that it will be adding content to make Marvel's Avengers more worthwhile soon. Nonetheless, the state of Marvel’s Avengers is still looking quite grim at the moment, and it’s entirely possible that the live service game will follow the path of Anthem more than Destiny.
Digital game sales have risen sharply overall in recent years, and that’s a trend that seems likely to only increase due to this year’s COVID-19 pandemic forcing people to stay indoors. The soon-to-be-released next generation of game consoles looks like it will also drive more sales to the digital format, with both Sony and Microsoft offering digital-only versions of their next-gen hardware. It’s probably only a matter of time before both Marvel’s Avengers and Final Fantasy 7 Remake are topped by another digital Square Enix game, and with Final Fantasy 16 potentially launching before too long, the record could be broken relatively soon.
Marvel's Avengers is available on PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC.
Source: SuperData