Marvel‘s Guardians of the Galaxy faced an uphill struggle even before its release, and there was plenty of doubt around the game in the months leading up to its release. Of course, Eidos Montreal‘s action-adventure game surprised a lot of people with its single-player, narrative-driven focus—but, while it earned a lot of love from critics and audiences alike, it doesn’t appear that this was reflected in its initial sales.
Square Enix announced in its most recent quarterly results report that Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy’s launch sales fell short of forecasts. However, the game quickly gained traction, with sales increasing, which Square Enix anticipates will continue.
“Despite positive reviews, the game’s initial sales fell short of our expectations,” the business stated in its report. “However, promotional initiatives that we started in November 2021 and maintained into the new year resulted in sales increase, and we want to keep working to improve sales to make up for the title’s sluggish start.”
With its Marvel-licensed games, Square Enix has not had the kind of success it had hoped for. Marvel’s Avengers was critically lambasted upon release, and the game’s subsequent poor sales resulted in major losses for Square Enix, with the game struggling to recoup production expenses. Square Enix blamed the game’s live service model and a “studio mismatch” for the game’s poor sales. Hopefully, things will turn around for Eidos Montreal‘s game, which has a lot of potentials.
“Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy might be by-the-numbers, but it’s a constantly pleasurable experience with wonderful characters and an interesting story, owing to a superb knowledge of what makes this franchise tick,” we said in our review of the film, awarding it an 8/10.
Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy is out now on PS5, Xbox Series X/S, PS4, Xbox One, PC, and Nintendo Switch as a cloud-exclusive release.