‘Marvel’s Midnight Suns’ Fails To Make Sales Impact In First Month
Ryan Pearson
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Marvel’s Midnight Suns may have failed to make an impact in its first month since launch, lacking major milestones and already having a sale.
Iron Man, Captain Marvel, and Magik face off against HYDRA goons via Marvel’s Midnight Suns (2022), 2K
While exact sales figures have yet to be released by publisher 2K, some facts can be gleamed from sales figures in various countries and certain platforms. For instance, PlayStation Blog released the PlayStation Store top downloads for December 2022. Marvel’s Midnight Suns launched December 2nd, 2022.
Therein, Midnight Suns was the 14th most downloaded game that month in the US on PlayStation 5, falling behind Spider-Man: Miles Morales which launched over two years prior, and admittedly gangbuster titles like Elden Ring, God of War Ragnarök, and Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II.
In the EU however, Marvel’s Midnight Suns failed to break the top 20. Likewise, it didn’t enter the top 20 on PlayStation 4.
The PlayStation 5’s top downloads for December 2022 via PlayStation Blog
Another sales figure of note is from the UK. GSD market data for 2022 (via GamesIndustry.biz) notes that Marvel’s Midnight Suns failed to breach the top 100 games sold in the UK, digital and physical.
Further reports that cast doubt on the game’s sales is how it had a 33% discount on all platforms almost one month after being released to the public for purchase. While the offer has ended on Steam and the Microsoft Store at the time of this writing, it will end January 18th on PlayStation, and February 19th on the Epic Games Store.
Spider-Man and Ghost Rider face off against the demonic Fallen Venom, and HYDRA soldiers via Marvel’s Midnight Suns (2022), 2K
Despite this lack of fanfare over sales, Marvel’s Midnight Suns has strong reviews from critics. OpenCritic notes it scored an average of 83 out of 100, with 90% of critics recommending it. Likewise, the game has an average Metascore of 82 on Metacritic, across PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X|S.
Most players seem happy as well, as the game is “Mostly Positive” on Steam, with 77% of users recommending it at the time of writing. Epic Games Store players have also given it 4.5 out of 5.
However, the average user score on Metacritic is 6.8 out of 10, being only 5.6 on PC. So why the disparity?
The Hunter, Captain Marvel, and Sister Grimm look over a HYDRA base via Marvel’s Midnight Suns (2022), 2K
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Critical user reviews complain about Denuvo DRM on PC (often accused of causing performance issues, though denied by Denuvo Software), poor graphics, poor performance and visual bugs, long load times, poor writing, being too high a price for what was on offer, and the combat only making up half the gameplay- which was divisive on how fun it was.
This would contradict most of what critics praised the game for.
User reviews also complain about an “unusable microtransaction shop(for now), and a plethora of grind mechanics make the game feel stodgy and slow from the level of a strategic overview,” as Khasym stated in their review on Metacritic). Sure enough, players can buy “Eclipse Credits” at various denominations.
Khasym shares their PC review of Marvel’s Midnight Suns via Metacritic
Likewise, Khasym notes how the grindy gameplay pales in comparison to Firaxis’ XCOM 2. Instead character customization parts are collected via exploring the HUB in Marvel’s Midnight Suns, conversations with your characters to improve your stats, and upgrades progressing one at a time between fights. “Nothing done here, was done better HERE than in past Firaxis games.”
The Abbey at night via Marvel’s Midnight Suns (2022), 2K
Is the game merely divisive, or flawed in some way? Were potential players scared off by microtransactions, or having lost faith in Marvel as a brand after other games faltered? Let us know what you think.
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