So, um, Avengers flopped

@BenjaminBanklin: Sure they are losing money (not):

SQUARE ENIX Consolidated Financial Results for the Six-Month Period Ended September 30, 2020 (Japan GAAP)

1. Consolidated Results for the Six-Month Period Ended September 30, 2020 (1) Analysis of consolidated business results The Square Enix group (the “Group”) is continuing determined efforts to strengthen the competitiveness and profitability of its business segments of Digital Entertainment, Amusement, Publication and Merchandising. Net sales for the six-month period ended September 30, 2020 totaled ¥172,731 million (an increase of 43.0％ from the same period of the prior fiscal year), operating income amounted to ¥31,655 million (an increase of 98.9％ from the same period of the prior fiscal year),and ordinary income amounted to ¥30,537 million (an increase of 95.6％ from the same period of the prior fiscal year), and profit attributable to owners of parent amounted to ¥16,047 million (an increase of 46.3％ from the same period of the prior fiscal year). A discussion of results by segment for the six-month period ended September 30, 2020 follows.

●Digital Entertainment The Digital Entertainment segment consists of planning, development, distribution, and operation of digital entertainment content primarily in the form of game. Digital entertainment content is offered to meet customer lifestyles across a variety of usage environments such as consumer game consoles (including handheld game machines), personal computers and smart devices. At the HD (High-Definition)Game sub-segment, the six-month period ended September 30, 2020 saw the release of major titles including “FINAL FANTASY VII REMAKE” and “Marvel’s Avengers,” growth in digital sales of catalog titles, and licensing income that resulted in higher net sales than in the same period of the previous fiscal year, as well as a turn to profit at the operating line. Net sales declined at the MMO (Massively Multiplayer Online) Game sub-segment due to the release the previous fiscal year of the “FINAL FANTASY XIV” expansion pack, but the number of monthly paying subscribers for that title grew compared to the previous fiscal year, resulting in greater operating income. The Games for Smart Devices/PC Browser sub-segment saw earnings contributions from “DRAGON QUEST WALK” and “WAR OF THE VISIONS: FINAL FANTASY BRAVE EXVIUS,” both of which were launched in the previous fiscal year, as well as from a strong start by “DRAGON QUEST TACT,” which was launched in July 2020. The result was higher net sales and operating income than in the same period of the previous fiscal year. Net sales and operating income in the Digital Entertainment segment totaled ¥142,475 million (an increase of 66.8％ from the same period of the prior fiscal year), and ¥33,831 million (an increase of 102.7％ from the same period of the prior fiscal year), respectively.

https://www.hd.square-enix.com/eng/news/pdf/21q2earnings.pdf

But... MGS2 is one of the greatest games of all time, and Raiden is a great character.

In other words, the tweet in the OP is fake news.

I knew something was off about that OP tweet, after the recent success that Square Enix has had with games like FF14 Shadowbringers and FF7 Remake.

Raiden is shit and MGS2 was disappointing in many ways. La-Li-Lu-Le-Lo. LOL

Raiden > Snake

MGS2 > MGS

Negative. You are right though.... MGS2 is one of the greatest.... disappointments of all time. hehe :)

Change your topic title, TC, as the information turns out to be false.

What? Man you are making shit up. Find a post where I said I was gay. I will wait. 😊

While you are trying to back your false claim about me claiming to be gay, I will use your own logic

"You being straight alters your perspective. You became defensive right away and you strive for exclusiveness. So, you are going to be biased in favour of the agenda. It is what it is. Thanks for the laughs though. :)"

I love flawed logic. Its so relaxing to read. 😂

I'm not entirely sure what Square Enix spent that amount on, but at least I can say this:

First, Marvel's Avengers was ranked first in the NPD in September, overtaking Mario 3D All Stars, and "the second-biggest launch month ever for a superhero game."

"Second, Marvel's Avengers was released on September 4th , and the closing date for sales figures in the Square Enix's report (which is released on Nov.6) is September 30th. How can you determine the overall sales and losses of the game in less than a month? The holiday season isn't over yet.

Finally, it's strange to report a loss as soon as the game is released. Marvel's Avengers has been in development for at least four to five years, and most of the development and advertising costs should have already been reported in previous financial reports.

Edit: @BenjaminBanklinAnd where is the official source that specifically states that Square Enix made that loss because of Marvel's Avengers?

Here it is...

https://www.gamespot.com/forums/system-wars-314159282/japan-ps-website-updates-site-with-ps5-icon-before-33482455/

LOL. You thought an obvious jest to your comment was me claiming to be gay?

@Pedro:

It's OK, take pride in who you are. Wear the rainbow. You silly banana boy.

You could have kept your banana fetish on the down low. 😎

So, you are not gay? I honestly thought you were.

Dude stop. This is the kind of posting that's exactly the reason why Trump lost the election. The entitlement of seeing everything that doesn't feature a white male protagonist as pushing an agenda. Other kinds of people exist, and having a game with one brown female protagonist is not an attack against you. This game has problems, having a female Muslim character is not in any way shape or form a legit critique of the game.

This thread has taken a nasty turn. It's about the performance of this game in the market, not a creed putting down everybody but straight white males. That's bullshit.

Its amazing that you think it is relevant to the discussion. As the OP expressed, I will end this discourse. Sorry @BenjaminBanklin. 😥

Yet, I didn't put anybody down and I would have been no happier if there was some generic white male in her place. Neither belongs as a main protagonist in an Avengers game. It is about The Avengers. That still doesn't change her being forced into the game as part of the wokeness agenda. So yeah...

You don't have to apologize. I was trying to ignore the SJW/Woke comment until it turned into something ugly and worse. I knew it was a landmine waiting to be stepped on. I don't blame you for calling it out.

The game was an okay slog for the SP. The rest was just shit.

@BassMan

I will be extra clear with you. I don't get this woke concern or phobia. I don't even get/buy your claim that if it was a white guy you would have thought it would have been forced. If you are being genuine about the white male, your current explanation still doesn't validate the concern of being forced.

EDIT: Quoted the wrong person.

How much would you pay for the SP?

You quoted the wrong person. In regards to the wokeness... it is about keeping the integrity of the source material and not including things to serve an agenda. The Avengers should be about The Avengers and not shoehorning bullshit characters. It is no different than the female Ghostbusters remake, or women in BFV, or whatever current agenda/movement is being pushed. It is not about being against anybody, but rather being against forcing shit and trying too hard.

Not full price. It was interesting, but everything else was mediocre, and the end game was just outright garbage.

I am trying to figure out how low the price should be to pickup.

😅 to misquoting. A lot of your claims and the others that are aligned with yours seems to be baseless. I have yet to see anyone with your view claiming agenda for games with generic white man. If that was remotely as common as the strong animosity towards any character that is not a white male, then this conversation would not even exist.

Loooow... Like $20.

Thanks. You have set my purchase threshold.

The generic white man is familiar and sells. That is why it is so prominent. Again, I have no issue with featuring diverse characters as long as it is not forced due to the current trend/movement/agenda. Don't use established IPs and remix them or force shit in them to further an agenda. So many developers are jumping on the whole inclusiveness/diversity/woke bandwagon. This shit is being forced into games at the design stage for the sake of it.

Thumbs up buddy, thumbs up 👍

I'm sorry, but what is the official measure of being able to include a non-white non-male in a project where it's not "forced"? I'm not in the mindset of bristling when seeing someone that doesn't share my exact same characteristics, so help me understand. Playing a big game featuring a brown teenage girl with superpowers shouldn't really be any more far removed than playing a white bald jacked-up space marine.

Also, what exactly is the "agenda"?

This is going off-topic lol. Kamala Khan is an established character. Should she be the lead of this game? Eh. She ended up being kind of a loose element... Segregated to reuniting the Avengers, and not being all that exciting to play. I think it was meant to be more grandiose, but it kinda whimpered.

TBH, I think Black Widow and Captain America were the best to play. Flying mechanics weren't the best, so Iron Man and Thor kinda suffered.

eh, are you that surprised?

Games sell. Whether the protagonist is white, brown, dark brown, blue man or woman. There is enough examples to validate this. Its prominent because most of the people who originally made games were white men. As stated before, the people behind games are diversifying and now that these people are including people like themselves just as white males have done in the past. But now, including these people is being classified as pushing an agenda. The possibility of an agenda being pushed is very possible, but just saying its pushing an agenda purely because of what the character looks like is just baseless.

As you stated earlier, she was introduced 7 years ago. She is part of the universe just like Miles Morales who was introduces 9 years ago and is part of Spider-Man's universe. New characters have to be brought into whatever universe eventually. But, this goes back to pattern I have identified and still not directly addressed. We don't have this conversation about white males or sexy white females (note, neither character type/trope is inherently wrong as far as I am concerned). This discourse only pops up if characters don't have very specific characteristics. The forced claim continues to be just "its not white, its not male, its forced". That's really basic level thinking. If we routinely had discussion about characters being forced and it was not just non white male and straight characters, your criticism of being forced would hold validity but, that is usually not the case.

The agenda is pushing for inclusiveness and diversity. This shit is happening at a corporate level due to pressures from our current society. It is all about checking off the diversity/inclusiveness box instead of letting things happen naturally. Right now you are seeing a lot of diverse characters because a lot of these developers are jumping on the bandwagon and trying to make a statement. It won't be long before we see our first black LGBTQ character who suffers from a disability, was sexually assaulted, is a political refugee, was beaten by a white cop, and suffers from the corona-virus. Did I get enough check boxes? Did I touch on enough current issues? OK, let's make a game around that person!

Diversity and inclusiveness is the new lens flare. LOL

Developers are free to put in whatever kind of characters they want--they created them. Thing is, when you make something for an audience, it's usually in your best interest to cater to what they like or prefer. If the majority of your audience are white males, you should probably make a white male character as the lead for highest sales.

The society you are referring to are gamers. Corporate leaders recognizing these groups are bad because? You say its all about checking off the diversity/inclusiveness box instead of letting things happen naturally. What is your version of letting things happen naturally? Is making a game not diverse more natural? What does naturally translate to?

Is it possible that you are seeing more diverse characters because the community wants diversity because the community is diverse? Is the core of your argument base on the idea that its bad for developers or corporation to cater to changing demographics?

Why is it that folks who share your view have a tendency of condensing your concern to these extreme characters "It won't be long before we see our first black LGBTQ character who suffers from a disability, was sexually assaulted, is a political refugee, and suffers from the corona-virus."? In the midst of taking that route you ignore the fact that you are painting without reservation that being black, LGBTQ, having a disability, being sexually assaulted, political refugee and having corona-virus is bad as a construct to the character. The more interesting thing, is that you genuinely believe that I am the one that is biased and my view is being obscured even though none of my comments and arguments is rooted in the devaluing of anyone based on any specific characteristic.

Can you provide evidence to this claim?

It's not a claim, it's a scenario. Notice the "if" at the start.

Game looks boring even for a single player game!!

The IF only applies to the first section of your sentence. The later portion of the sentence is making a claim. You are stating "you should probably make a white male character as the lead for highest sales." This is making the claim that making a character a white male leads to higher sales because white males buy more games with white male leads.

The fact that your character outfits didn't change with the loot was the reason I didn't get it. Playing hero dress up was one of the funniest parts about DC Online.

Under that scenario, it would make more sense to do that. It was the point I was making.

Looking at census data, it would seem white people still heavily outnumber other races, and studies have shown that males game more than females, so it probably stands to reason that more white males buy video games than any other group.

Check the avi and sig. brig is trolling.

Again, I am not devaluing anybody. I am just highlighting agendas, movements, current issues, etc.. This is shit that is discussed in marketing and design meetings and companies will tailor products and services around things like this. Everything is about image and reaching people. Same shit as these political campaigns where they are targeting black voters or Hispanics, or the single moms, whatever. There are things being included in games for external reasons that are not part of the natural design process. It is no different than shoehorning micro-transactions or live service elements that hurt the game.

Really, when did this topic become a Political Gamers discussion? Can discussion of identity politics just go to that forum?

Thank you for highlighting the problem of political issues spilling into games. :)

Agreed. Get that shit the hell outta here.

Anyone who played the beta knew this was trash day one

Endgame's North American opening audience demographics:

‘Avengers: Endgame’ Rests At $357M+ Opening Record; Eyes $33M+ Monday & Record $180M 2nd Frame; Weekend Biz Hits $401M+ High

Gender:

• 57% male
• 43% female

Ethnicity:

• 44% Caucasian
• 56% non-white
• 21% Hispanic
• 15% African American
• 20% Asian and other

Gender and ethnicity:

• 25% Caucasian male
• 32% non-white male
• 19% Caucasian female
• 24% non-white female

This would indicate that white males account for a minority of The Avengers audience, not the majority.

@Jag85: Which proves Snowflake and Safespace would have been better choices than the ones they picked.

You are devaluing people with certain traits. I am amazed that you cannot see that. Any game that includes non white male according to you is an agenda, movement, current issues etc. Beyond that, I was looking forward to what you consider natural implementation these people you classify as not belonging. 🤷🏽‍♀️