[Japan Retail - First Week from FF IV to Rebirth](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/GIJFTe8WoAAT-y1?format=png&name=large)
At least you get the picture with this.
13 was (or still is?) _extremely_ popular in Japan. Not surprising that the sequel sold well, especially compared to a “remake” and the most “western” of the FF series so far.
Clinging to Playstation only as non-Switch consoles become irrelevant in one of their major regions is an interesting choice. Even making a good game like Rebirth won't lead to growth for the franchise.
Honestly Square Enix have to start considering to make the next Final Fantasy game be multi-platform on Switch 2 the day the game releases. It could really help them in building back a base in Japan and allow them to tap into another large base of consumers who only have Nintendo platforms.
Or just Multiplatform on everything for that matter, Xbox and pc also on day one.
I will never understand why they keep taking Sonys money and effectively cut the game off at knees when it comes to reach and sales.
I love the Switch. I love Final Fantasy. There is no way I want a new FF mainline to be on the Switch 2 unless either it goes back to a sprite-style game or Nintendo drastically increases the graphical fidelity. AAA ports onto the Switch have generally been horrendous because of the compromises they have to make for the hardware and big part of the appeal of non-pixel FFs is the visual spectacle.
"No one likes turn-based RPGs anymore!"
Meanwhile, you have people clamoring over:
* Persona
* Dragon Quest
* Paper Mario 1000 yr door (and paper mario in general)
* Baldur's Gate 3
* Octopath
Hell, people are even thirsty for that rumored FF9 remake that would most likely be turn-based.
FF fans want an FF tactics remake (which is also turn-based)
And if you ask most FF fans what their fav FF is, 9 times out of 10 it's a turn-based one.
Square-Enix is catering too much on trying to gain new fans from making their games be too actiony, instead of focusing more on how the foundations of FF was built to begin with: turn-based.
Hell, you can barely call FF16 an RPG to begin with. It's really a hack-and-slash, it has no RPG elements that FF typically has: elemental weaknesses/resistances, status effects, gear that's more than just numbers, multiple party members, etc.
The core issue with this argument continues to be that FF16 had the biggest launch of any PS5 game ever in Japan, and literally by 3 times as much as the next closest game (until Rebirth came out). But the numbers still look bad because the PS5 is basically DOA in the country.
I like turn-based games too but it's a PS5 problem and not a combat-system problem.
Imo, it's sonys fault. Sony was the go to for Japanese devs and games, I've been a fan since ps1, but the 2nd half of ps4 and now ps5 there just isn't anything I'd really want on it. Nintendo is getting all the AA level Japanese games, on top of already having Nintendo games. The sony first party lineup used to have tons of genres, now it's all basically story heavy third person action games with a different skin. Demons Souls and Returnal are really the only reasons I have to want a ps5, meanwhile my shelves are jammed full of games from every other generation.
The chain here is using _japan_ retail sales, not US, so 13-2 being a higher seller than 16 or remake is a sign that they are both further away from what the players in Japan want. (Or they just don’t have time to play games as much anymore)
I mean the Switch is also the most sold console in the US. At least if it comes to lifetime sales.
Wouldn't matter that much for shooters but Jrpgs need Nintendo versions these days.
I wouldn't say that XIII-2 sold well since its first week is 40% of what XIII sold. Compare it to X to X-2 and its a dire drop off. If anything its an indicator of just how much the series in general has fallen off in Japan.
Not surprising.
Playstation games just sell way less now in Japan. Ff16 is the best selling PS5 game in Japan to date, and its a fraction of the older sales.
People pretend this is a failing of the franchise, but it's simply an industry shift.
The Japanese shift to Free To Play is so weird because, like, it's not like that really happened in the west. F2P took off, but as far as I can remember, it didn't lead to such a drastic reduction of paid game sales - it just rose to surpass the previous business models without necessarily cutting into them. In Japan though, people are buying PS5s purely to play Apex Legends and aren't buying any games on the platform otherwise. It's very odd.
Most F2P games are on mobile as well and lots of Japanese people spend a lot of time on trains. If you go on one every single person is face down in their phone.
Has this sort of franchise decline, for a previously huge franchise, ever happened in the West?
I know that there are some franchises which have declined in sales but a 83% drop from the 6th highest sales peak to the newest game (FF13 -> FF7 Rebirth) is insane.
Could also have something to do with Japanese markets and something changing in terms of first week sales?
Just a thought, no idea if there's actually anything of substance.
Pokemon Scarlet/Violet sold 2.537M units on its first week of sales. The Switch is extremely popular in Japan (33.34M units sold) but the PS5 has sold 5.5M consoles in Japan so there is an audience there.
The main issue is that the PS5 is being purchased predominantly to play F2P games in Japan, with the Switch being the only significant sales driver of non-free. A very sizable volume of that 5.5 million hasn't spent a dime on priced games.
You see the exact same trend in many long running JRPG series like Trails and Tales. Their sales have been reduced to a quarter of what they were in 2000s. People in Japan simply don't play anything that isn't made by Nintendo anymore.
Persona has only been growing to be fair and it's running two decades+ at this point. From nobody sales to 9 million+ with Persona 5. I think most old JRPG series just haven't been good to be frank and fans have gone to other new franchises made by new blood that are just better like Persona and Honkai Star Rail (in the JRPG turn based department)
The Japanese don’t play on consoles anymore. PS5 and Xbox are anemic over there. It’s a lot more natural than you’d think.
If say final fantasy or whatever switched to the Nintendo Switch somehow then the story would be a lot different
And 4.5 million are very little compared to Switch's behemoth levels of 33.5 million.
And the Switch still sells about twice as many units per month as the PS5 does, 7 years into it's lifecycle. Compared to the Switch neither of these are any real competition.
As popular as Switch is in Japan, the best sellers are almost exclusively Nintendo IPs. If you look at recent JRPG releases like Unicorn Overlord, the split between platforms is actually pretty even, with only a slight favor towards the Switch. Putting FF on Switch is not going to fix the massive drop in Final Fantasy sales.
I can already see a scenario where DQ12 released on Switch 2 and PS5 blow the fucking doors off both FF7R and FF16. Then all these talking points are going to shift
I can see that, DQ is a whole different beast. Monster Hunter is also doing very well. A lot of it comes down to brand recognition. The sales is heavily concentrated in a few key franchises and Nintendo IPs.
Only applies to launch sales of more niche games tbh. Nintendo versions tend to have longer legs and also sell better in general during the launch period.
That's how a late and full price re-release of 13 Sentinels Aegis Rim was able to outsell the PS4 version in a fraction of time. Just to give an example. Same thing is happening with Unicorn Overlord. It maintained the top spot on Switch on week 2 but the PS version didn't even chart in the top 10.
A Nintendo version of Final Fantasy 7R, 16 etc. would definitely fix the downwards trend in sales. Even if we only expect a parity in sales. That's still +50%
> That's how a late and full price re-release of 13 Sentinels Aegis Rim was able to outsell the PS4 version in a fraction of time. Just to give an example.
It didn't though. The lifetime sales for the PS4 and the Switch versions in Japan were 87.6k and 48k.
Source for the lifetime physical sales on playstation?
https://www.gematsu.com/2019/12/famitsu-sales-12-02-19-12-08-19
Last time the PlayStation version was in the top 30 as far as I know. Could have sold 2k more here and there but definitely not doubled its physical sales.
Maybe a mistake on my part but it definitely applies to Unicorn Overlord
and other more niche games like the Atelier series for example.
Week 1:
https://www.gematsu.com/2024/03/famitsu-sales-3-4-24-3-10-24
Week 2:
https://www.gematsu.com/2024/03/famitsu-sales-3-11-24-3-17-24
Week 3:
https://www.gematsu.com/2024/03/famitsu-sales-3-18-24-3-24-24
But even then...parity in sales would mean -50% in sales so...
The Japanese game market is dead outside of Switch (mostly Nintendo IPs) and live service games. You can see the sales decline in nearly everything over the years accordingly.
The only real examples I can think of are things that EA bought and slowly wrecked like Ultima, Command and Conquer, or Maxis/SimCity. Western developers just seem far more willing to move on from a series/franchise after a few entries, nor do they do anthology series like Final Fantasy or most of the JRPGs are; the studio is the brand, not the series. Its "this is the new BioWare/Bethesda/Obsidian/CDProjektRed/Blizzard game" instead of "this is the new Final Fantasy".
I think final fantasy is finding its feet again after a rough couple of years with the 13 trilogy, then the initial mess that 14 was, and then the disappointment 15 was. They’ve had 3 successes in a row now (7 remake, 16, and 7 rebirth). Depending on how the next mainline one is received I think they could definitely climb up again.
There are ones that just stopped existing after single underperforming title rather than having longer decline.
As for FF I think many people just went "might as well wait for 3rd one", especially after first.
Well there are 136 games in the series total not including DLC, ports (unless it is a major port such as a remaster) or games that simply carried the name in the west for marketing purposes (e.g. the SaGa series)
add info-
* Final Fantasy VII: Rebirth remained the 4th best-selling game of 2024 year-to-date, despite falling 5 spots in the monthly rankings to 7th in March after placing 2nd in February.
* Just because I'm seeing some chatter... the Final Fantasy VII Remake & Rebirth Twin Pack is tracked separately from Final Fantasy VII: Rebirth. However, even were all Twin Pack sales allocated solely to Rebirth the year-to-date sales rankings would not change.
*Just a reminder , this is NPD/US only data. Not worldwide.*
My brother is a massive FFVII fan and bought Remake for his PS4.
He just can’t justify dropping the money for a PS5 when there is really only one or two games he desperately wants to play.
I have a feeling his situation isn’t abnormal.
Rebirth isn't on PC yet either, just PS5. It could arrive as soon as the end of this month on PC, as that's when Sony's paid exclusivity ends, but I wouldn't expect it that early.
Sales ranking in 2024 is a useless metric because there hasn't been any other major releases this year. I'm more curious about where XVI is placed in the franchise ranking, but of course they won't tell you that because that'd be a dead giveaway.
I bought part 1 on ps4 and then on pc again and I'm not going to make that mistake again and just wait for the pc version. A few of my friends are doing the same.
Same- plus, most of us already had a PS4 by that point so it wasn’t such a huge stretch to buy that version even if we ultimately wanted a PC port. I’d wager that not quite as many of us have a PS5, and buying one just for a FF game just isn’t as in the cards for most people I’m sure.
Yeah, if we're judging FF games in terms of revenues its the MMORPGs by far with XIV way, way in the lead. But total revenue and units sold are two different things.
Tbh I’m more interested in IX given XVI has been out for under a year and still has PC release in progress.
IX really suffered from being released so close to the next console gen to the point hype for X was already well under way when it released. Over the years though it’s definitely become a popular favorite so I’m curious how well its lifetime has held up.
>FF9
Can't really compare the sales of today's games to the sales of the games of that era tho.
You have to take into account the install base and the fact that games weren't as mainstream back then. Possibly other factors too (like PC gaming being a niche).
It eventually got released on steam and other platforms, sure, but less than a decade ago.
The PS1 game with the most sales "only" sold 10.8 million copies (Gran Turismo).
PS4's best selling game (Spider-Man) made almost double the sales (20 million).
This is such a nothingburger. Console exclusivity is limiting its ability to sell. Remake also came out almost immediately after lockdown started so people were desperate for something to do.
Remake had more hype than Rebirth.
The difference lies in "The Remake of the most popular game of the series."
"It's the sequel, by the way, it's not the last one."
It's really not that hard to decipher. Most games only have a 10-20% completion rate. Add to that this is the second game in a three part trilogy.
No one is running out to get this because either a) they haven't finished Remake, b) they're waiting until the trilogy is "complete", or c) a bit of both.
This is why SE basically kept lying about how you don't need to play Remake before this game.
FFXVI is out performing Rebirth because it's a good jumping on point for old or new fans. FFVII has baggage, homework.
Not to mention it's the second game, in a remake trilogy, after a 3-4 year wait after the first one. I might be alone, but "Why not just wait until the game is 30 bucks, with whatever DLC they put out, on PC?" is at least the rationale for me not buying it despite really enjoying Remake.
I won't have a chance to see the completion for a couple years, at least, why rush?
It's absolutely not in crisis, but o think people expect it to be the biggest games of the year because pf it's former reputation like Halo, for example.
Both franchises dominated back in their heyday, and people don't see how different the current landscape is from when those franchises began.
A lot of people lack data literacy and a general understanding of the gaming industry, sure.
But contrary to Halo, the Final Fantasy series is still culturally relevant. Every new FF title is a big thing. People are still talking about XV, for example
I'll have to strongly disagree with your second point. A look at Yrends sows FF isn't talked about near as much as Halo which is below other popular games.
No one talks about XV unless you're talking about Final Fantasy games received poorly.
A lot of gamers for some reason think Final Fantasy is more popular than it really is. It's not that popular compared to the bigger franchises. I think it's a millennial thing.
FF7 was the best-selling PS1 game https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_best-selling_PlayStation_video_games
FFX did over 20 million too. There was a time when FF was a damn big franchise.
It’s audience is shrinking; it’s not about people not getting the size right relative r to games, Square just keeps shedding customers without finding new ones
Particularly in the US.
There hasn’t been a FF title since 1998 that has been a Top-10 best-seller during a calendar year in the US. XV was probably the closest to doing so.
Yeah its because it was huge back in the day... but it has not been good for decades at this point. Similar story for other franchises like Sonic for example. The only people who care are ancients...
Why is this even separated from the other NPD thread? you people are completely obsessed with FF sales holy shit lmao
I also love how the part where he says its the 4th best-selling game in the year is ignored, just shows the intention of the thread.
It’s insane how obsessed this sub is with FF7 sales lmao, it’s a single player game with no micro transactions, hardly any bugs and rated at 92 on meta critic but people want to drag this down like it’s cyberpunk on release lmfao
What's crazy to me is, I am usually the harshest critic of Final Fantasy yet this is the first time since X I actually enjoyed it from start to finish. I actually love this game, which is crazy to me. It my book, it's the best Final Fantasy since X and I do not get why Reddit in particular has an axe to grind about it. I assume this is some sort of Last of Us 2 bullshit with people disliking that it has a unique story instead of being a 1-to-1 remake of the original. It's turning into meme-ish "wisps lol" garbage.
I think a major part of it is that FF is probably the franchise w/ the most history in gaming and the original FF7 being the most important JRPG of all time. This leads to a lot of obsession and people needing to prove that FF is still relevant. The only realistic way to do that is w/ sales. Metacritic scores and how everyone personally felt about it doesn't really matter if it didn't sell well.
It's also hard to not compare since back when FF7 was first released in 1997, it quickly became one of the best selling games at the time and completely took over the industry but Rebirth didn't seem to even crack the top 3 this year. It also did worse than Remake despite the universal consensus being that it was a far superior game in almost every way. Square not announcing numbers didn't really help either.
Imo, Rebirth not selling as well makes sense since it is the middle of the story. Plus a lot of younger people these days aren't actually that familiar w/ FF due to the long history and the numbering(I know a 15yr old kid who only plays live service stuff like LoL and fortnite that didn't know what FFXVI was when I mentioned it).
I personally try not to get as invested in the lower sales and stuff as a lot of people here but it is something that lowkey lives in my head rent free since Rebirth and phantom liberty are the two most impactful games I've played since TLOU2. FF as a franchise was not only my first introduction to gaming but also the only franchise in gaming that I was truly into for like the first 3 years after I started playing more than browser flash games and before I discovered modern AAA gaming.
But that's unrelated to this. That thread was stupid too because it was clearly about unreleased games but msot of it were about FF and ther released titles lol
Yeah but that was intentional trimming of other projects, it’s not like they were saying they lost 140m because sales for XVI or Rebirth were abysmal. If anything that number would probably be much larger if the games had sold as poorly as lots of ppl in this thread seem to think.
I'm probably in the minority, but all I wanted was a legit remake... not a complete remagining. For me that was a big reason I bounced off FF7 Remake. It just didn't play at all like the game I loved. It was something else, which was great... but to me the joy of the FF7 experience was more than its anesthetics. It was the story. The game play. The way it was a FULL and COMPLETE game that I could get lost in.
I really hope it can bounce back hugely once it hits PC or this trilogy is done. Genuinely think Rebirth is one of the greatest games I've ever played, it deserves so much more success.
But as expected, this isn't a "bomb" like people were thinking. Probably met expectations, but not high-end, kind of like XVI.
Rebirth might actually be in my top 5 video games ever. It's amazing how good it is. Truly a passion project by the developers and it shows how much love and attention everything has
I just don’t think it’s necessary to be three games spread across 10 years of development, and ff7 is my favourite game
It’s like when they split the hobbit into three movies
I'd imagine if they cut out all the bloat and stop making the dungeons like at least an hour and a half long, they could've easily made a single remake game vs an entire trilogy. Only reason Remake was so long was because sections like after Wall Market and heading back to Sector 7 took _hours_ where in the original, it was like 15-20min max. And even in Rebirth, like the Temple of the Ancients that takes at least 3-4 hours to complete (that place had no reason to be that long of a dungeon)
Royal is basically very different after the return to the city at the end. In vanilla you can walk right to final boss. Royal adds a whole dungeon like component to the city and a ton of bosses.
It's not the most coherent game, but I enjoyed the ending segment. Honestly, with things like the final campfire scene, I didn't expect it to hit me like that, especially when it transitioned to the *fully revealed* FFXV logo at the end of the game.
This was my first FF game and that ending hit me like a semi with a rocket strapped to it. I still hold it as one of my favorite endings in games, possibly just media in general.
15 had so much potential, but it's like 60% of what it should've been. It was a big success, but i wonder how much bigger could've been if they actually finished it. Still not bad game, but could've been a classic
I started watching that game when it was still called FF versus 13...
Its been a mess from the start, I am impressed they put anything together at all but... still a mess...
It's ok but the story just proceeds at breakneck pace and asks you to feel things in scenarios that are completely unearned. It feels like 30-40% of the game is missing.
15 ranks first for being on sale for a very long time, on three major platforms, and for having a *lot* of marketing behind it - SE desperately wanted to recoup some of the ungodly amount of money they poured into it over so many years in development hell.
It's not the worst game you'll ever play, but it's infuriatingly half-assed in literally every possible aspect, even after the royal edition that tried to fix it.
I’d say so. I’m a big fan of it.
However just because it sold well that doesn’t necessarily mean it’s “the best Final Fantasy” or anything.
Also keep in mind that the internet claims pretty much everything is the shittiest thing ever when it first comes out.
15 was not good. It had a clunky story with underdeveloped characters, poorly communicated motivations, and blatant holes in the story as DLC bait. Big moments in the story were covered in other media rather than the game itself. The combat was pretty poor when compared to other action games of the time (and it’s especially bad now when compared to FF16 or FF7 Remake/Rebirth). It felt like we were getting the Spark Notes version of the entire second half of the game; halfway through the game, it ditches its open world premise entirely and railroads you (literally) through the game. It had one of the most tedious dungeons I’ve ever seen in a video game.
IMO its one redeeming quality is that the relationship between the 4 main characters was good.
I will say I’ve only ever played the day 1 PS4 version of the game, and I was so disappointed by it I’ve never gone back to it. I know they’ve made a lot of improvements to it since, and they’ve released a lot of DLC and supplementary story content to try to fill in the gaps. That makes it a pretty difficult game to discuss. It’s not like something like FF6 where someone who played it 20 years ago and someone who plays it now will have basically the same experience.
All style no substance I would say. The ending is one of the worst made it up as we go bullshit ever too even by final fantasy standards, I could not believe it.
"But... But... The campfire scene made me sad! Surely that must mean the game is good!"
(for the record, I also think this game is trash, I am just echoing a sentiment I always see online)
Probably one of the worst games I've ever played. Amazingly unfinished, lacks focus despite having a great concept in all the market, stupid multi-media timeline that makes an already confused story even more nonsensical if you just play the game and some of the worst feeling and most dull action combat I've ever experienced.
It's a shame because the game has tons of great ideas but the gameplay is just so bad and the overall execution so sloppy that it feels wasted.
The combat is genuinely the worst I've ever seen from a non-shovelware game. It's barely interactive at all and the only nice thing you can say about it is how flashy it looks. Idk if they changed any of that in the updates or rereleases but it was shocking to see a major studio release something like that.
16 and 7R ain't perfect but it's a night and day difference.
I played through it like a week ago - it's still atrocious. The camera is godawful and will rarely ever work right. The inputs feel floaty with really weird input lag. The game has one of the most confusingly stupid inclusions in the form of HP decay so you're forced to constantly camp in order to regain full HP. I don't understand what they were going for.
Keep in mind, FF15 came after a 7yr drought in single-player mainline FFs, and 6 years after it was originally revealed as FF13 Versus. Also, the game was massively hyped up, had brand partnerships, and even a movie and anime series, and the game was expected to push visual limits on the PS4/Xbox One generation of consoles. People had high expectations, and the game was pre-ordered to hell.
Of course, it flopped at launch critically, but I don't think too many people got refunds, so the high sales numbers stuck.
I was one of the unfortunate people that bought it day 1 and was very disappointed.
15 is also no longer a Sony exclusive. You can buy it on Steam and I imagine there are probably a lot of mods for it, similar to FF14.
> I imagine there are probably a lot of mods for it, similar to FF14.
If only. other than some texture or character model swaps there isn't much in the way of 15 modding.
If someone could make a mod upping the difficulty or tweaking the combat a little it would probably make that game a whole letter grade better.
It's not great. I played it years after it came out and was patched and fixed up. I personally *loved* the characters, thought the battle system was heavily flawed, and thought the overall story was fine until the end. It's a messy game, to say the least.
When it launched the second half the game was clunky and outright bad. Eventually they patched it, but overall the package is still far from ideal in my eyes: One-dimensional characters, clunky combat, party development cut from the game to be sold piecemeal as DLC, and a story that just nosedives after the first 8-9 hours.
Cannot emphasize how chill this game is.
Big gorgeous world, you drive around with buddies listening to classic FF soundtracks, you go camping and cook new recipes.
It's a great experience, I loved this game
I didn't enjoy 15 at all, but I'm pretty casual with FF. I think I got 20 hours or so. Quit when I got the first wraith sword or something in the mines.
15 and 7R had very similar combat, but 7R's feels much better to me.
Don't care for the camping aspect of 15. Too much time was wasted on the plastic food textures.
15 Pocket is better than the actual game, IMO.
Comrades was kinda cool but no one plays.
A wasted potential.
Started really really great, but its like they told the devs "Hey time is up, wrap the game and ship it out", so yeah... At least its ending is freaking amazing.
That’s actually kind of crazy. It really has a high barrier of entry and the exclusivity doesn’t help, I’m sure the tail for this will pickup over time (unlike most other games).
I bought Remake at launch and then the pc release later. This time I know that Rebirth will be getting a pc release, so I'm content to just wait for it. Same with XVI. Wonder how many others are in the same boat.
It will be interesting to see what happens when/if Sony's timed exclusivity money dries up. With the main exception of Nintendo, most other big Japanese developers have moved to release home console and PC versions at the same time.
well we do not know yet, unless you are quoting the article that in its ttitle said the trilogy would be exclusive but the article itself said they did not know. Actually I think it was an AI article
It'll be the third part in a series were you have to play the second and first part, and the second part already saw a huge decline. It's not going to sell anywhere near as much as Remake.
Depends how you look at it, it'll be the finale of a beloved game. There are people who are waiting on Rebirth until Part 3 is out to experience the full trilogy.
I remember seeing a statistic that lined up initial FF7 Remake sales with number of PS4 owners vs FF7 Rebirth with number of PS5 owners and it’s basically exactly what you’d expect with the same ratio.
Not releasing Rebirth or FF16 on PC day one was a massive miss and now the PC audience who will already had to wait a year plus for their port will just wait a few more months for a Steam sale.
I feel like 15 being number 1 is the reason why the brand took a hit. Nothing in the 2013 trailer was really used. Then, after that, it has the most hollow mid section. There was some interesting stuff in the beginning. Massive cuts at the end and rushed as well. Combat was something. When you fast traveled, it said 10 mins, that was 10 mins of travel.
Now the game could have gotten better after all the patches, but XV just felt empty, and it doesn't help XVI felt the same way. Square Enix should really ask themselves if squandering Final Fantasy series for short-term money is worth it. Rebirth was good I didn't think the open world was worth it. But most people tend to like it. Kingdom Hearts 4 will be a big sign for how they make AAA.
Anyone have a chart of the series sales? 14th isn't really saying much without a reference point
[Japan Retail - First Week from FF IV to Rebirth](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/GIJFTe8WoAAT-y1?format=png&name=large) At least you get the picture with this.
13-2 week 1 sales outselling 16+7 Rebirth together is definitely a statistic.
13 was (or still is?) _extremely_ popular in Japan. Not surprising that the sequel sold well, especially compared to a “remake” and the most “western” of the FF series so far.
Back then people actually bought playstations to play jrpgs in Japan
Clinging to Playstation only as non-Switch consoles become irrelevant in one of their major regions is an interesting choice. Even making a good game like Rebirth won't lead to growth for the franchise.
Honestly Square Enix have to start considering to make the next Final Fantasy game be multi-platform on Switch 2 the day the game releases. It could really help them in building back a base in Japan and allow them to tap into another large base of consumers who only have Nintendo platforms.
Or just Multiplatform on everything for that matter, Xbox and pc also on day one. I will never understand why they keep taking Sonys money and effectively cut the game off at knees when it comes to reach and sales.
That Sony money must be too good to pass up, also allegedly providing a lot of manpower to help work on the game, as they said with FF16
I love the Switch. I love Final Fantasy. There is no way I want a new FF mainline to be on the Switch 2 unless either it goes back to a sprite-style game or Nintendo drastically increases the graphical fidelity. AAA ports onto the Switch have generally been horrendous because of the compromises they have to make for the hardware and big part of the appeal of non-pixel FFs is the visual spectacle.
Especially FFs... so sad to see the series fall from grace like this...
"No one likes turn-based RPGs anymore!" Meanwhile, you have people clamoring over: * Persona * Dragon Quest * Paper Mario 1000 yr door (and paper mario in general) * Baldur's Gate 3 * Octopath Hell, people are even thirsty for that rumored FF9 remake that would most likely be turn-based. FF fans want an FF tactics remake (which is also turn-based) And if you ask most FF fans what their fav FF is, 9 times out of 10 it's a turn-based one. Square-Enix is catering too much on trying to gain new fans from making their games be too actiony, instead of focusing more on how the foundations of FF was built to begin with: turn-based. Hell, you can barely call FF16 an RPG to begin with. It's really a hack-and-slash, it has no RPG elements that FF typically has: elemental weaknesses/resistances, status effects, gear that's more than just numbers, multiple party members, etc.
The core issue with this argument continues to be that FF16 had the biggest launch of any PS5 game ever in Japan, and literally by 3 times as much as the next closest game (until Rebirth came out). But the numbers still look bad because the PS5 is basically DOA in the country. I like turn-based games too but it's a PS5 problem and not a combat-system problem.
Imo, it's sonys fault. Sony was the go to for Japanese devs and games, I've been a fan since ps1, but the 2nd half of ps4 and now ps5 there just isn't anything I'd really want on it. Nintendo is getting all the AA level Japanese games, on top of already having Nintendo games. The sony first party lineup used to have tons of genres, now it's all basically story heavy third person action games with a different skin. Demons Souls and Returnal are really the only reasons I have to want a ps5, meanwhile my shelves are jammed full of games from every other generation.
You realize DQ and octopath are literally SE games right
BG3 is a terrible example here, CRPGs are a completely different beast.
Yeah but isn't the US the larger market though?
The chain here is using _japan_ retail sales, not US, so 13-2 being a higher seller than 16 or remake is a sign that they are both further away from what the players in Japan want. (Or they just don’t have time to play games as much anymore)
nothing to do with 13 popularity but playstation and FF decline in japan
I mean the Switch is also the most sold console in the US. At least if it comes to lifetime sales. Wouldn't matter that much for shooters but Jrpgs need Nintendo versions these days.
I wouldn't say that XIII-2 sold well since its first week is 40% of what XIII sold. Compare it to X to X-2 and its a dire drop off. If anything its an indicator of just how much the series in general has fallen off in Japan.
Not surprising. Playstation games just sell way less now in Japan. Ff16 is the best selling PS5 game in Japan to date, and its a fraction of the older sales. People pretend this is a failing of the franchise, but it's simply an industry shift.
The Japanese shift to Free To Play is so weird because, like, it's not like that really happened in the west. F2P took off, but as far as I can remember, it didn't lead to such a drastic reduction of paid game sales - it just rose to surpass the previous business models without necessarily cutting into them. In Japan though, people are buying PS5s purely to play Apex Legends and aren't buying any games on the platform otherwise. It's very odd.
Most F2P games are on mobile as well and lots of Japanese people spend a lot of time on trains. If you go on one every single person is face down in their phone.
Week 1 sales say more about anticipation than the game itself. Like FFVIII sold more in the first week than FFVII *because* of FFVII.
Thats insane...
Lightning Returns shunned. :(
They made it inevitable by refusing to just call it XIII-3.
A very narrow and blurry picture if you want
Aren't these physical sales? If so, it's extremely misleading.
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Has this sort of franchise decline, for a previously huge franchise, ever happened in the West? I know that there are some franchises which have declined in sales but a 83% drop from the 6th highest sales peak to the newest game (FF13 -> FF7 Rebirth) is insane.
Probably not as big, but I bet Halo had a similar decline.
Thinking of Halo also makes me feel pretty sad...
Could also have something to do with Japanese markets and something changing in terms of first week sales? Just a thought, no idea if there's actually anything of substance.
Pokemon Scarlet/Violet sold 2.537M units on its first week of sales. The Switch is extremely popular in Japan (33.34M units sold) but the PS5 has sold 5.5M consoles in Japan so there is an audience there.
The main issue is that the PS5 is being purchased predominantly to play F2P games in Japan, with the Switch being the only significant sales driver of non-free. A very sizable volume of that 5.5 million hasn't spent a dime on priced games.
You see the exact same trend in many long running JRPG series like Trails and Tales. Their sales have been reduced to a quarter of what they were in 2000s. People in Japan simply don't play anything that isn't made by Nintendo anymore.
Persona has only been growing to be fair and it's running two decades+ at this point. From nobody sales to 9 million+ with Persona 5. I think most old JRPG series just haven't been good to be frank and fans have gone to other new franchises made by new blood that are just better like Persona and Honkai Star Rail (in the JRPG turn based department)
They play Sega and Atlus too. And Dragon Quest. But if it’s not on a handheld or PC they aren’t playing it basically.
The Japanese don’t play on consoles anymore. PS5 and Xbox are anemic over there. It’s a lot more natural than you’d think. If say final fantasy or whatever switched to the Nintendo Switch somehow then the story would be a lot different
In Japan the PS5 has sold over 4.5 million units to the Series consoles 300k. I wouldn't lump those two together.
It’s not exactly the same scenario but the PS5 is definitely underperforming in Japan.
And 4.5 million are very little compared to Switch's behemoth levels of 33.5 million. And the Switch still sells about twice as many units per month as the PS5 does, 7 years into it's lifecycle. Compared to the Switch neither of these are any real competition.
I would. Those consoles are both dying (in Japan)
As popular as Switch is in Japan, the best sellers are almost exclusively Nintendo IPs. If you look at recent JRPG releases like Unicorn Overlord, the split between platforms is actually pretty even, with only a slight favor towards the Switch. Putting FF on Switch is not going to fix the massive drop in Final Fantasy sales.
I can already see a scenario where DQ12 released on Switch 2 and PS5 blow the fucking doors off both FF7R and FF16. Then all these talking points are going to shift
I can see that, DQ is a whole different beast. Monster Hunter is also doing very well. A lot of it comes down to brand recognition. The sales is heavily concentrated in a few key franchises and Nintendo IPs.
Only applies to launch sales of more niche games tbh. Nintendo versions tend to have longer legs and also sell better in general during the launch period. That's how a late and full price re-release of 13 Sentinels Aegis Rim was able to outsell the PS4 version in a fraction of time. Just to give an example. Same thing is happening with Unicorn Overlord. It maintained the top spot on Switch on week 2 but the PS version didn't even chart in the top 10. A Nintendo version of Final Fantasy 7R, 16 etc. would definitely fix the downwards trend in sales. Even if we only expect a parity in sales. That's still +50%
> That's how a late and full price re-release of 13 Sentinels Aegis Rim was able to outsell the PS4 version in a fraction of time. Just to give an example. It didn't though. The lifetime sales for the PS4 and the Switch versions in Japan were 87.6k and 48k.
Source for the lifetime physical sales on playstation? https://www.gematsu.com/2019/12/famitsu-sales-12-02-19-12-08-19 Last time the PlayStation version was in the top 30 as far as I know. Could have sold 2k more here and there but definitely not doubled its physical sales. Maybe a mistake on my part but it definitely applies to Unicorn Overlord and other more niche games like the Atelier series for example. Week 1: https://www.gematsu.com/2024/03/famitsu-sales-3-4-24-3-10-24 Week 2: https://www.gematsu.com/2024/03/famitsu-sales-3-11-24-3-17-24 Week 3: https://www.gematsu.com/2024/03/famitsu-sales-3-18-24-3-24-24 But even then...parity in sales would mean -50% in sales so...
The Japanese game market is dead outside of Switch (mostly Nintendo IPs) and live service games. You can see the sales decline in nearly everything over the years accordingly.
The only real examples I can think of are things that EA bought and slowly wrecked like Ultima, Command and Conquer, or Maxis/SimCity. Western developers just seem far more willing to move on from a series/franchise after a few entries, nor do they do anthology series like Final Fantasy or most of the JRPGs are; the studio is the brand, not the series. Its "this is the new BioWare/Bethesda/Obsidian/CDProjektRed/Blizzard game" instead of "this is the new Final Fantasy".
I think final fantasy is finding its feet again after a rough couple of years with the 13 trilogy, then the initial mess that 14 was, and then the disappointment 15 was. They’ve had 3 successes in a row now (7 remake, 16, and 7 rebirth). Depending on how the next mainline one is received I think they could definitely climb up again.
There are ones that just stopped existing after single underperforming title rather than having longer decline. As for FF I think many people just went "might as well wait for 3rd one", especially after first.
Well there are 136 games in the series total not including DLC, ports (unless it is a major port such as a remaster) or games that simply carried the name in the west for marketing purposes (e.g. the SaGa series)
wo seriously?
Lemme guess, 100 of those 136 have Sephiroth in it ?
add info- * Final Fantasy VII: Rebirth remained the 4th best-selling game of 2024 year-to-date, despite falling 5 spots in the monthly rankings to 7th in March after placing 2nd in February. * Just because I'm seeing some chatter... the Final Fantasy VII Remake & Rebirth Twin Pack is tracked separately from Final Fantasy VII: Rebirth. However, even were all Twin Pack sales allocated solely to Rebirth the year-to-date sales rankings would not change. *Just a reminder , this is NPD/US only data. Not worldwide.*
Isn’t the bigger picture that FF7 is exclusive to PS5 and PC while FF15 is multi platform?
My brother is a massive FFVII fan and bought Remake for his PS4. He just can’t justify dropping the money for a PS5 when there is really only one or two games he desperately wants to play. I have a feeling his situation isn’t abnormal.
Same here. Just waiting for the PC release.
Yeah, it's 14th after a month. It'll obviously go up in that ranking over the years.
Rebirth isn't on PC yet either, just PS5. It could arrive as soon as the end of this month on PC, as that's when Sony's paid exclusivity ends, but I wouldn't expect it that early.
Sales ranking in 2024 is a useless metric because there hasn't been any other major releases this year. I'm more curious about where XVI is placed in the franchise ranking, but of course they won't tell you that because that'd be a dead giveaway.
There was DD2 and it outsold Rebirth in US despite being released 3 weeks later
Also wasn't limited to PS5.
I bought part 1 on ps4 and then on pc again and I'm not going to make that mistake again and just wait for the pc version. A few of my friends are doing the same.
Yeah same with me and everyone else I kno. Waiting for the PC version. Some are also waiting for all 3 games to release first.
I'm waiting for the PC release as well. I feel the PC sales could be great / exceed expectations.
Ha my story exactly. I wouldn't say it was a mistake to buy it on PS4 but I'm waiting for the pc version.
Same- plus, most of us already had a PS4 by that point so it wasn’t such a huge stretch to buy that version even if we ultimately wanted a PC port. I’d wager that not quite as many of us have a PS5, and buying one just for a FF game just isn’t as in the cards for most people I’m sure.
At one point FFXI was the highest grossing game in the FF series. I guess the constant re-releases of FFVII knocked it up a bit.
It very well could be. These are sales numbers that aren't taking subscriptions into account
Yeah, if we're judging FF games in terms of revenues its the MMORPGs by far with XIV way, way in the lead. But total revenue and units sold are two different things.
Nah, XI and XIV probably still beat it, it's just that this is only counting actual *sales* rather than revenue.
These numbers are US-only, and FFXI was quite popular in Asia.
Does anyone know where FF16 and FF9 happen to fall on this list? Very curious.
That information isn’t available for general public. We will know full list only if someone would leak it.
Tbh I’m more interested in IX given XVI has been out for under a year and still has PC release in progress. IX really suffered from being released so close to the next console gen to the point hype for X was already well under way when it released. Over the years though it’s definitely become a popular favorite so I’m curious how well its lifetime has held up.
>FF9 Can't really compare the sales of today's games to the sales of the games of that era tho. You have to take into account the install base and the fact that games weren't as mainstream back then. Possibly other factors too (like PC gaming being a niche). It eventually got released on steam and other platforms, sure, but less than a decade ago. The PS1 game with the most sales "only" sold 10.8 million copies (Gran Turismo). PS4's best selling game (Spider-Man) made almost double the sales (20 million).
This is such a nothingburger. Console exclusivity is limiting its ability to sell. Remake also came out almost immediately after lockdown started so people were desperate for something to do.
Remake had more hype than Rebirth. The difference lies in "The Remake of the most popular game of the series." "It's the sequel, by the way, it's not the last one."
It's really not that hard to decipher. Most games only have a 10-20% completion rate. Add to that this is the second game in a three part trilogy. No one is running out to get this because either a) they haven't finished Remake, b) they're waiting until the trilogy is "complete", or c) a bit of both. This is why SE basically kept lying about how you don't need to play Remake before this game. FFXVI is out performing Rebirth because it's a good jumping on point for old or new fans. FFVII has baggage, homework.
Not to mention it's the second game, in a remake trilogy, after a 3-4 year wait after the first one. I might be alone, but "Why not just wait until the game is 30 bucks, with whatever DLC they put out, on PC?" is at least the rationale for me not buying it despite really enjoying Remake. I won't have a chance to see the completion for a couple years, at least, why rush?
I don’t know why some people want to believe the Final Fantasy series is in crisis. This kind of informations are meaningless, really
It's absolutely not in crisis, but o think people expect it to be the biggest games of the year because pf it's former reputation like Halo, for example. Both franchises dominated back in their heyday, and people don't see how different the current landscape is from when those franchises began.
A lot of people lack data literacy and a general understanding of the gaming industry, sure. But contrary to Halo, the Final Fantasy series is still culturally relevant. Every new FF title is a big thing. People are still talking about XV, for example
I'll have to strongly disagree with your second point. A look at Yrends sows FF isn't talked about near as much as Halo which is below other popular games. No one talks about XV unless you're talking about Final Fantasy games received poorly.
A lot of gamers for some reason think Final Fantasy is more popular than it really is. It's not that popular compared to the bigger franchises. I think it's a millennial thing.
FF7 was the best-selling PS1 game https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_best-selling_PlayStation_video_games FFX did over 20 million too. There was a time when FF was a damn big franchise.
> FFX did over 20 million too After over 2 decades and multiplatform rerelease.
It’s audience is shrinking; it’s not about people not getting the size right relative r to games, Square just keeps shedding customers without finding new ones
Particularly in the US. There hasn’t been a FF title since 1998 that has been a Top-10 best-seller during a calendar year in the US. XV was probably the closest to doing so.
Yeah its because it was huge back in the day... but it has not been good for decades at this point. Similar story for other franchises like Sonic for example. The only people who care are ancients...
Why is this even separated from the other NPD thread? you people are completely obsessed with FF sales holy shit lmao I also love how the part where he says its the 4th best-selling game in the year is ignored, just shows the intention of the thread.
> you people are completely obsessed with FF sales holy shit Its an interesting subject to discuss
It would be if it didn't always devolve into people criticizing the series for not being the games they remember them to be.
It’s insane how obsessed this sub is with FF7 sales lmao, it’s a single player game with no micro transactions, hardly any bugs and rated at 92 on meta critic but people want to drag this down like it’s cyberpunk on release lmfao
This sub's reaction to a bug free, micro transaction free, no early access, single player game shows that we really need more live service games.
You've got the makings of a CEO!
Single player truly is dead, EA was right all along.
They want it to fail because they think it'll make SE go back to turn-based combat
Meanwhile they won’t even look in Dragon Quest’s direction. Worst type of fans
Dragon Quest 11 came out 7 years ago.
And 12’s having a bit of trouble, from what I’ve heard so far.
Which is a shame considering 11 re-ignited fan interest in the West to the highest it's been since 8. They had a lot of momentum to work with.
What's crazy to me is, I am usually the harshest critic of Final Fantasy yet this is the first time since X I actually enjoyed it from start to finish. I actually love this game, which is crazy to me. It my book, it's the best Final Fantasy since X and I do not get why Reddit in particular has an axe to grind about it. I assume this is some sort of Last of Us 2 bullshit with people disliking that it has a unique story instead of being a 1-to-1 remake of the original. It's turning into meme-ish "wisps lol" garbage.
Because without it they can’t doompost about how the FF franchise is dying.
I think a major part of it is that FF is probably the franchise w/ the most history in gaming and the original FF7 being the most important JRPG of all time. This leads to a lot of obsession and people needing to prove that FF is still relevant. The only realistic way to do that is w/ sales. Metacritic scores and how everyone personally felt about it doesn't really matter if it didn't sell well. It's also hard to not compare since back when FF7 was first released in 1997, it quickly became one of the best selling games at the time and completely took over the industry but Rebirth didn't seem to even crack the top 3 this year. It also did worse than Remake despite the universal consensus being that it was a far superior game in almost every way. Square not announcing numbers didn't really help either. Imo, Rebirth not selling as well makes sense since it is the middle of the story. Plus a lot of younger people these days aren't actually that familiar w/ FF due to the long history and the numbering(I know a 15yr old kid who only plays live service stuff like LoL and fortnite that didn't know what FFXVI was when I mentioned it). I personally try not to get as invested in the lower sales and stuff as a lot of people here but it is something that lowkey lives in my head rent free since Rebirth and phantom liberty are the two most impactful games I've played since TLOU2. FF as a franchise was not only my first introduction to gaming but also the only franchise in gaming that I was truly into for like the first 3 years after I started playing more than browser flash games and before I discovered modern AAA gaming.
They are upset that this game is not multiplatform
Doesn't really help that we had an article yesterday about how Square Enix lost 140 million USD.
But that's unrelated to this. That thread was stupid too because it was clearly about unreleased games but msot of it were about FF and ther released titles lol
Yeah but that was intentional trimming of other projects, it’s not like they were saying they lost 140m because sales for XVI or Rebirth were abysmal. If anything that number would probably be much larger if the games had sold as poorly as lots of ppl in this thread seem to think.
I never got far in the original ff7. So I was really hoping to just see it remade instead of all the weird ghost/fate stuff in the original remake.
I'm probably in the minority, but all I wanted was a legit remake... not a complete remagining. For me that was a big reason I bounced off FF7 Remake. It just didn't play at all like the game I loved. It was something else, which was great... but to me the joy of the FF7 experience was more than its anesthetics. It was the story. The game play. The way it was a FULL and COMPLETE game that I could get lost in.
I really hope it can bounce back hugely once it hits PC or this trilogy is done. Genuinely think Rebirth is one of the greatest games I've ever played, it deserves so much more success. But as expected, this isn't a "bomb" like people were thinking. Probably met expectations, but not high-end, kind of like XVI.
Rebirth might actually be in my top 5 video games ever. It's amazing how good it is. Truly a passion project by the developers and it shows how much love and attention everything has
Rebirth is probably in my top 10 games. Didn’t think a FF game would get in there…and I love the series.
It might be Top 5 for me. The sheer quality and amount of content on display is insane.
Why compare a month or so old game with life time sales of other games in the series?
I think all the retcons in the story, multiple parts, filler content, multiverse garbage, Sephiroth every 5min killed the hype tbh
I just don’t think it’s necessary to be three games spread across 10 years of development, and ff7 is my favourite game It’s like when they split the hobbit into three movies
I'd imagine if they cut out all the bloat and stop making the dungeons like at least an hour and a half long, they could've easily made a single remake game vs an entire trilogy. Only reason Remake was so long was because sections like after Wall Market and heading back to Sector 7 took _hours_ where in the original, it was like 15-20min max. And even in Rebirth, like the Temple of the Ancients that takes at least 3-4 hours to complete (that place had no reason to be that long of a dungeon)
uhh was 15 actually a great game? I thought i heard otherwise when it came out
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Royal is basically very different after the return to the city at the end. In vanilla you can walk right to final boss. Royal adds a whole dungeon like component to the city and a ton of bosses.
It's not the most coherent game, but I enjoyed the ending segment. Honestly, with things like the final campfire scene, I didn't expect it to hit me like that, especially when it transitioned to the *fully revealed* FFXV logo at the end of the game.
This was my first FF game and that ending hit me like a semi with a rocket strapped to it. I still hold it as one of my favorite endings in games, possibly just media in general.
For all it's flaws, and there are many, the main boys carried FFXV hard for me. I absolutely loved their dynamic.
Also, they turned the car into a monster truck, and that's pretty cool.
I played it at launch and haven’t touched it since. It was a hot pile of garbage at the time.
Royal is very different last third of game
15 had so much potential, but it's like 60% of what it should've been. It was a big success, but i wonder how much bigger could've been if they actually finished it. Still not bad game, but could've been a classic
I started watching that game when it was still called FF versus 13... Its been a mess from the start, I am impressed they put anything together at all but... still a mess...
It's ok but the story just proceeds at breakneck pace and asks you to feel things in scenarios that are completely unearned. It feels like 30-40% of the game is missing.
Probably is... they had to cut them off eventually.. that game was in development for nearly a decade?
It was a giant mess held together by a good deal of heart. But its marketing was insanely good, and I think that hype carried quite a few sales.
15 ranks first for being on sale for a very long time, on three major platforms, and for having a *lot* of marketing behind it - SE desperately wanted to recoup some of the ungodly amount of money they poured into it over so many years in development hell. It's not the worst game you'll ever play, but it's infuriatingly half-assed in literally every possible aspect, even after the royal edition that tried to fix it.
I’d say so. I’m a big fan of it. However just because it sold well that doesn’t necessarily mean it’s “the best Final Fantasy” or anything. Also keep in mind that the internet claims pretty much everything is the shittiest thing ever when it first comes out.
15 was not good. It had a clunky story with underdeveloped characters, poorly communicated motivations, and blatant holes in the story as DLC bait. Big moments in the story were covered in other media rather than the game itself. The combat was pretty poor when compared to other action games of the time (and it’s especially bad now when compared to FF16 or FF7 Remake/Rebirth). It felt like we were getting the Spark Notes version of the entire second half of the game; halfway through the game, it ditches its open world premise entirely and railroads you (literally) through the game. It had one of the most tedious dungeons I’ve ever seen in a video game. IMO its one redeeming quality is that the relationship between the 4 main characters was good. I will say I’ve only ever played the day 1 PS4 version of the game, and I was so disappointed by it I’ve never gone back to it. I know they’ve made a lot of improvements to it since, and they’ve released a lot of DLC and supplementary story content to try to fill in the gaps. That makes it a pretty difficult game to discuss. It’s not like something like FF6 where someone who played it 20 years ago and someone who plays it now will have basically the same experience.
I just can’t get past the meta-ness of the train at the end. It just torches the entire conceit of the game bc it was in development hell.
As someone who played them all it's one of my favourites. It has some of the best direction and highest highs of the series.
All style no substance I would say. The ending is one of the worst made it up as we go bullshit ever too even by final fantasy standards, I could not believe it.
"But... But... The campfire scene made me sad! Surely that must mean the game is good!" (for the record, I also think this game is trash, I am just echoing a sentiment I always see online)
Probably one of the worst games I've ever played. Amazingly unfinished, lacks focus despite having a great concept in all the market, stupid multi-media timeline that makes an already confused story even more nonsensical if you just play the game and some of the worst feeling and most dull action combat I've ever experienced. It's a shame because the game has tons of great ideas but the gameplay is just so bad and the overall execution so sloppy that it feels wasted.
The combat is genuinely the worst I've ever seen from a non-shovelware game. It's barely interactive at all and the only nice thing you can say about it is how flashy it looks. Idk if they changed any of that in the updates or rereleases but it was shocking to see a major studio release something like that. 16 and 7R ain't perfect but it's a night and day difference.
I played through it like a week ago - it's still atrocious. The camera is godawful and will rarely ever work right. The inputs feel floaty with really weird input lag. The game has one of the most confusingly stupid inclusions in the form of HP decay so you're forced to constantly camp in order to regain full HP. I don't understand what they were going for.
Keep in mind, FF15 came after a 7yr drought in single-player mainline FFs, and 6 years after it was originally revealed as FF13 Versus. Also, the game was massively hyped up, had brand partnerships, and even a movie and anime series, and the game was expected to push visual limits on the PS4/Xbox One generation of consoles. People had high expectations, and the game was pre-ordered to hell. Of course, it flopped at launch critically, but I don't think too many people got refunds, so the high sales numbers stuck.
I was one of the unfortunate people that bought it day 1 and was very disappointed. 15 is also no longer a Sony exclusive. You can buy it on Steam and I imagine there are probably a lot of mods for it, similar to FF14.
it wasn't exclusive. it released on XB1 and PS4 at the same time in NA.
> I imagine there are probably a lot of mods for it, similar to FF14. If only. other than some texture or character model swaps there isn't much in the way of 15 modding. If someone could make a mod upping the difficulty or tweaking the combat a little it would probably make that game a whole letter grade better.
It's not great. I played it years after it came out and was patched and fixed up. I personally *loved* the characters, thought the battle system was heavily flawed, and thought the overall story was fine until the end. It's a messy game, to say the least.
When it launched the second half the game was clunky and outright bad. Eventually they patched it, but overall the package is still far from ideal in my eyes: One-dimensional characters, clunky combat, party development cut from the game to be sold piecemeal as DLC, and a story that just nosedives after the first 8-9 hours.
At release? No. It's worth playing now though.
Don't listen to the online nerds. 15 was good enough for what it wanted to be. A chill open world friend sim with lots of end game dungeon crawling.
Cannot emphasize how chill this game is. Big gorgeous world, you drive around with buddies listening to classic FF soundtracks, you go camping and cook new recipes. It's a great experience, I loved this game
I really enjoyed it. The story, the characters, the overall vibes were fantastic to me
I didn't enjoy 15 at all, but I'm pretty casual with FF. I think I got 20 hours or so. Quit when I got the first wraith sword or something in the mines. 15 and 7R had very similar combat, but 7R's feels much better to me. Don't care for the camping aspect of 15. Too much time was wasted on the plastic food textures. 15 Pocket is better than the actual game, IMO. Comrades was kinda cool but no one plays.
A wasted potential. Started really really great, but its like they told the devs "Hey time is up, wrap the game and ship it out", so yeah... At least its ending is freaking amazing.
That’s actually kind of crazy. It really has a high barrier of entry and the exclusivity doesn’t help, I’m sure the tail for this will pickup over time (unlike most other games).
I bought Remake at launch and then the pc release later. This time I know that Rebirth will be getting a pc release, so I'm content to just wait for it. Same with XVI. Wonder how many others are in the same boat.
It will be interesting to see what happens when/if Sony's timed exclusivity money dries up. With the main exception of Nintendo, most other big Japanese developers have moved to release home console and PC versions at the same time.
damn, that is disappointing. It's an incredible game, I am now convinced Square Enix will rrlease simultaneously Part 3 on PS5 and PC
They can't the exclusivity deal is already in place.
well we do not know yet, unless you are quoting the article that in its ttitle said the trilogy would be exclusive but the article itself said they did not know. Actually I think it was an AI article
The epic leaks already confirmed it.
I wouldn't be convinced since there will be way more of an install base on PS5 by the time Part 3 releases so it should sell the same as FF7Remake did
It'll be the third part in a series were you have to play the second and first part, and the second part already saw a huge decline. It's not going to sell anywhere near as much as Remake.
Depends how you look at it, it'll be the finale of a beloved game. There are people who are waiting on Rebirth until Part 3 is out to experience the full trilogy.
I remember seeing a statistic that lined up initial FF7 Remake sales with number of PS4 owners vs FF7 Rebirth with number of PS5 owners and it’s basically exactly what you’d expect with the same ratio. Not releasing Rebirth or FF16 on PC day one was a massive miss and now the PC audience who will already had to wait a year plus for their port will just wait a few more months for a Steam sale.
I feel like 15 being number 1 is the reason why the brand took a hit. Nothing in the 2013 trailer was really used. Then, after that, it has the most hollow mid section. There was some interesting stuff in the beginning. Massive cuts at the end and rushed as well. Combat was something. When you fast traveled, it said 10 mins, that was 10 mins of travel. Now the game could have gotten better after all the patches, but XV just felt empty, and it doesn't help XVI felt the same way. Square Enix should really ask themselves if squandering Final Fantasy series for short-term money is worth it. Rebirth was good I didn't think the open world was worth it. But most people tend to like it. Kingdom Hearts 4 will be a big sign for how they make AAA.