poppabk
Cheeks Spread for Digital Only Future
How can you know when they didn't release either game day 1 on PC and both had pretty poor post launch word of mouth?
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Final Fantasy XVI and Final Fantasy VII Rebirth underperformed, says Square Enix
Square Enix tought the sweet money with ROTR and FF VII Remake deals would cover up and bring them gold, turns out it did worse for them in the middle term as they got too addicted to it and did ergregious deals at every corner and never plan to release ports for the day after the deal expires.
It wouldn't be a far fetched ideal because people begged for a remake for more than a decade, but the way they did all the things killed all the mojo people had for it, VII Rebirth came and gone in a week, zero engagement. Even XIII sold roughly that figure with their worldwide releases in the first week.
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Kataploom
Gold Member
Selling it on PC and Xbox so it would sell 5M instead?
Also, he didn't say they lose money on those two games, but that profits were way lower than expected. Sometimes this could mean a loss considering profits also have to account for inflation adjustment over development time.
EmberMarkus
Neo Member
Best game of the generationSquare Enix "expectations"...
should be taken with a grain of salt.I still remember their Tomb Raider insane sales expectations.
But it is sad if they actually sold poorly especially Rebirth as that's arguably one of the best games of this generation.
I could not push through the demo. It was sluggish and boring. And I have over 300 hours at BG3 a slow and tedious game.
LordOcidax
Member
SE needs to make FF7 turn based again, problem solved 
asdasdasdbb
Member
God of War 2018 did way better than Remake did, despite being 2 years older and it being the first game of the franchise on PC.
I imagine Ragnarok will easily outperform FF16, even with FF16 doing a bit better than I had thought and I do think Ragnarok won't do as well as 2018 did.
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FinalBossWithTheMostPower
Member
OK, so console exclusivity shouldn't even be a discussion for them anymore.
Final Fantasy should be everywhere or nowhere.
I wonder if these sales numbers reflect the fact that there hasn't been a "great" Final Fantasy game since 10, and there are probably fewer newcomers to the series?
Final Fantasy should be everywhere or nowhere.
I wonder if these sales numbers reflect the fact that there hasn't been a "great" Final Fantasy game since 10, and there are probably fewer newcomers to the series?
Aguero9320
Member
In five years we’ll be saying ‘remember when there used to be exclusives…’
FeralEcho
Member
I said arguably one of the best...Best game of the generation
I could not push through the demo. It was sluggish and boring. And I have over 300 hours at BG3 a slow and tedious game.
You're entitled to your opinion but there's nothing wrong about what I said based on the reception of the game both from the critics and users.
Spirit Icana
Member
This gen's release of FromSoft's Armored Core 6 sold over 700k copies across PC, PS5, and PS4 in JAPAN ALONE. It is arguable whether Final Fantasy 16 was able to hit that number between its roughly 450k physical sales, and unknown digital sales on PS5 in that region. The trends worldwide all show it clearly behind Final Fantasy 15, and 7 Remake. Rebirth was tracking behind 16 in almost every market as well. These are clearly sales disappointments, as they show a declining trend for these tentpole releases at a time of increased costs/budgets, and developments times compared to predecessors that performed better.
Rebirth performing notably worse than Remake doesn't scream good PR, nor make a case for even more resources being poured into its follow-up (third game won't be made on the cheap though --no worries). Other market trends show PC/Steam is making a serious dent in Japan, and worldwide, and continuing to grow. Nintendo is the clear market leader in Japan right now for home consoles, lest they goof up with their next hardware. Sony's on the road to pricing themselves out of that market (Japan), and the President of SE clearly believes a multi-platform approach is necessary for the company now, in light of these trends, and has signaled exclusivity as a problem/missed opportunity for these big games.
There is many other things we can discuss specific to these two tentpole titles (16/Rebirth), but clearly these are initial sales disappointments that have missed early projections, and strategies are changing/being reanalyzed. That much is clear.
That being said, both these games are still considered success stories, and they will continue to get pushed years down the line with their inevitable re-releases.
Rebirth performing notably worse than Remake doesn't scream good PR, nor make a case for even more resources being poured into its follow-up (third game won't be made on the cheap though --no worries). Other market trends show PC/Steam is making a serious dent in Japan, and worldwide, and continuing to grow. Nintendo is the clear market leader in Japan right now for home consoles, lest they goof up with their next hardware. Sony's on the road to pricing themselves out of that market (Japan), and the President of SE clearly believes a multi-platform approach is necessary for the company now, in light of these trends, and has signaled exclusivity as a problem/missed opportunity for these big games.
There is many other things we can discuss specific to these two tentpole titles (16/Rebirth), but clearly these are initial sales disappointments that have missed early projections, and strategies are changing/being reanalyzed. That much is clear.
That being said, both these games are still considered success stories, and they will continue to get pushed years down the line with their inevitable re-releases.
iQuasarLV
Member
Anyone remember Square-Enix Reveals Sales Expectations for Tomb Raider
They are, goddamn, out of touch with reality. If you read the follow-up quotes of that briefing back in 2013, it is everyone else fault and not SE.
Now that their beloved In house IP limped across the finish line I wonder who will be to blame this time.
They are, goddamn, out of touch with reality. If you read the follow-up quotes of that briefing back in 2013, it is everyone else fault and not SE.
Now that their beloved In house IP limped across the finish line I wonder who will be to blame this time.
Chukhopops
Member
Sad for Rebirth as it’s a very good game and definitely a step in the right direction.
As for XVI, well… they need to do better for the next mainline game for sure because this really wasn’t it this time.
Bought both second hand so I guess I didn’t help SE much either.
As for XVI, well… they need to do better for the next mainline game for sure because this really wasn’t it this time.
Bought both second hand so I guess I didn’t help SE much either.
Judge Magister
Member
It's interesting to see XVI getting bashed because back than people were super excited about it being close to XIV direction.
Astral Dog
Member
Its funny, making it exclusive hurted their potential sales, but also may had been their safest option.
The Xbox market isn't that big on jrpgs, and the Switch isn't capable of running their AAA games,so they took money from PlayStation and made it exclusive to cover the costs.
That is the safest way to achieve their ambitions even if PS5 limited their sales, at least the reviews are high, in the future these games could be ported to other platforms, but right now its what they have
I don't believe its a failure of the games though they appear to be of high quality
Ridicululzz
Member
SE expectations seem like those Asian parent stereotypes where you bring home a 99 and they’re disappointed it’s not a 100
Mister Wolf
Member
Should have been PC day one. Guaranteed they would have received more preorders and front loaded purchases.
ZehDon
Member
Anyone expecting their next FFVII instalment to sell as well as the first entry didn't pay attention to the response. They made a sequel, not a remake, and pushed a good percentage of people away - myself included. I just don't care about it now. I'd expect the third part to sell the least.
I might have played FFXVI if it were on a platform I actually own, but they didn't want my money. Now they're trying to charge full price over a year later on PC, repeating Sony's strategy, and likely coming up with the same underwhelming results.
Sounds to me like their expectations were off, or their PlayStation exclusivity didn't deliver. Possibly a combination of both.
I might have played FFXVI if it were on a platform I actually own, but they didn't want my money. Now they're trying to charge full price over a year later on PC, repeating Sony's strategy, and likely coming up with the same underwhelming results.
Sounds to me like their expectations were off, or their PlayStation exclusivity didn't deliver. Possibly a combination of both.
Ridicululzz
Member
I believe it’s only $50 instead of the release price of $70, so they’re sort of learning?
ZehDon
Member
Oh, sorry, you're absolutely correct! It's AUD$25 cheaper (new games are typically AUD$100.00). I should've double checked, sorry.I believe it’s only $50 instead of the release price of $70, so they’re sort of learning?
Haint
Member
Day 1 Sony releases would probably come close to matching Playstation platform sales, certainly they too would perform many times better than they do 1.5 to 4 years late. Like even in the most retarded regions of my brain, I can't even begin to entertain your (and your ilk's) arguments and rationale--that games sell just as well 2+ years later, shadow dropping with zero marketing, than they would on day 1 in the epicenter of the marketing push and hype cycle. It's a completely illogical and irrational position to take. As I pointed out, "comparable" exclusivity deals strongly suggests Sony's checks are very likely peanuts, so even if we accept your ridiculous assertions and the games bomb catastrophically on both Xbox and PC, there's basically no way Square still wouldn't have come out ahead cause Sony's effectively paying them nothing as is.
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Last Hearth
Member
They definitely waited too long, because those waiting for a true remake are still waiting.
EverydayBeast
ChatGPT 0.1
It really seems everyone has high expectations it really comes down to is the game fun.
adamsapple
Or is it just one of Phil's balls in my throat?
huh.
'one of the rare cases where square is being reasonable'
Now I'm even more interested in just how much (or little) Rebirth has sold. Square hasn't put out any PR tweet or anything about it selling 2, 3 million like they do with most of their big releases.
'one of the rare cases where square is being reasonable'
Now I'm even more interested in just how much (or little) Rebirth has sold. Square hasn't put out any PR tweet or anything about it selling 2, 3 million like they do with most of their big releases.
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asdasdasdbb
Member
I think the 2-3 million estimate is reasonable. And I do think it was very very front loaded as in most of the sales were in the first week if not Day 1.
iQuasarLV
Member
$692m for the year in the HD games segment @ what $70 yielded a ballpark of 10m copies sold and the picture shows seven games for that FY. Soo......
10,000,000 copies in the HD segment across 7 games. Not good I would say, not good at all.
Anyone would be disappointed if your big budgets games got outsold by low budget game like Konami monotari densetsu. They were clearly expecting FF games to sell like Resident Evil and Monster Hunter games.
LordBlodgett
Member
Square Enix: "_____________________ did not meet expectations"
playbignbox
Member
From now on, Square has to release its games day one for all platforms.
Square Enix management says exclusivity is hurting them and plans to scrap those deals. They have all the data and can see how the franchise and audience has stagnated.
How are people on a forum with limited data challenging this pivot?
Clearly whatever they got from Sony, it wasn’t enough to offset the likely damage to the franchise. They’d probably be in a better place on PC if Steam releases coincided with the major marketing campaign of last year.
They were always going to walk away from these deals anyway, since the Switch 2 will become the major platform for most of their games for the near to mid term.
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Insanemaelstrom
Member
Kind of expected tbh, especially for rebirth. FF7 remake was hyped and while I did, initially enjoy the time I spent on it, towards the end I had my fill of the game. Enough of it, that I feel ambivalent towards rebirth. Will probably get it when it is on heavy discount, but just didn't have enough hype to watch the state of plays regarding it or buying to day 1. I reckon that there are many who are in my situation, especially if they are newcomers to FF games( my first FF game was ff15, as an example).
Cao Cao
Member
You're entitled to your opinion but there's nothing wrong about what I said based on the reception of the game both from the critics and users.
Using Metacritic as proof, oh you naive boy.
They deleted thousands of negative reviews and hundreds of mixed ones to keep the score at a exact 9.0.
FeralEcho
Member
I'm basing my statement off my own opinion which got you people triggered for whatever reason so I just used metacritic to show how just because you don't think it's one of the best games of this generation ,others do.
It's really not that hard to understand.
Cao Cao
Member
I do not care. Do not show metacritic, it is meaningless. The score is fake.
When your games are not selling well the easy and short term band aid is to try to reach more platforms.
That's what Square Enix is trying to do.
But the exclusivity is not the real issue.
Otherwise they'd need to explain why there are games that on PS5 alone have surpassed 10m units while their premium titles are stucked at 3-3.5m.
Their IPs are indeed damaged and have lost importance among younger generations but not because of exclusivity, because of a decade of disappointing releases that have made a lot of public becoming uninterested, this is not something the CEO will tell you publicly.
As you can see the fact they just released FFXVI on PC won't change anything, the title isn't perceived to be particularly good and sales seem to be modest.
Let's not even talk about how laughable would be to lose time on Xbox, a platform with zero fanbase whose platform holder is going full multiplatform.
Switch 2 is a platform they need to consider in Japan, but they'll have to understand how to make their high end AAA games run on it. Imo for AAA releases they'll focus on PlayStation + PC day one going forward.
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HerjansEagleFeeder
Member
Who would've thought that releasing a 40+ hours FF title every two weeks leads to player fatigue and decreasing sales.
chromatic9
Member
The FF13 trilogy sales drop off shows you what can happen, people get their fill from the first game, they also failed to maximize on the hype with a piece meal approach and also took too long developing the games spreading over two systems. Much of the audience has aged out and stopped gaming, things you still had affection for as 25-35 year old can look hokey at 40+ years old.
FF7 remake should've been a single full game mega hit landing 10 years ago and then followed up with remasters. By the time this FF7 trilogy releases and is able to be packaged as a single title, the audience will be around 50-60 years old.
SE have been tragically slow since the PS3 era.
FF7 remake should've been a single full game mega hit landing 10 years ago and then followed up with remasters. By the time this FF7 trilogy releases and is able to be packaged as a single title, the audience will be around 50-60 years old.
SE have been tragically slow since the PS3 era.
Basically because they were ultra defenders of Square's decision to make FF exclusive for PS5 after decades of multiplatformity with countless arguments that have fallen out of favor.
Now the results and the situation have hit them head on with Square itself recognizing that it has been a disastrous decision and that they have to turn the strategy 180°.
Nobody knows if the return to multiplatformity will be better for them, but it is certainly clear that continuing as before does not work. When the vast majority of large publishers have pivoted to multiplatform for a decade and many have done so well, it makes sense for Square to pivot towards the same strategy. Among other reasons because it is not that It has many options left either
ShaiKhulud1989
Gold Member
It's useless. The thread is hijacked by a fake narrative created by a reporter with the shittiest track-record possible.
But hey, Bloomberg.
Rising_Hei
Member
I think they failed at marketing these games. The original FFVII marketing campaign was more spot-on, aggressive and impactful.
I thought the trailers and ads were generic, and didn't know what FFVII is about, and I believe FFVII's Rebirth campaign doesn't know how to sell the game to newcomers.
Who was behind the campaign? Sony?
I thought the trailers and ads were generic, and didn't know what FFVII is about, and I believe FFVII's Rebirth campaign doesn't know how to sell the game to newcomers.
Who was behind the campaign? Sony?
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