What’s Going On With Final Fantasy Sales?

Bobby from GL: "Final Fantasy is an icon in gaming history, but there's a downwards trend we've seen in sales figures in some of the most recent entries. We take a closer look at what's really going on."

[shinoff2183]

Why does every site ignore ff16 released with nothing else around it. While rebirth has released in the middle of a sh ton of other jrpgs surrounded by it to. Relink, unicorn, eiyuden in a week plus others.

[CS7]

I love FF, PS5 and Sony as much as the next guy but come on, its an honest question.

FFVII is listed on the most influential games and greatest games of all time lists. People begged for a remake for almost decades. People literally shed tears when the remake was announced.

Rebirth is also one of the best received games critically of all time. (90+ meta)

These are some of the most beloved characters in gaming. They have been insanely popular since release with Cloud in KH and Sephiroth in smash. One of its characters played in an XXX clip in a literal Italian government meeting. (Recalled a headline like that, Going from memory here...)

This game should be doing Last of Us/God of War numbers and melting sales charts. Heck, Ghost of Tsushima outperformed Remake back in 2020 with a lower metacritic score AND being a brand new IP!

To see it being outperformed by XVI and totally eclipsed by XV is a wild turn of events I never could have imagined. As a fan of the series it is a bit baffling to me.

Yes sales are ‘good’ but its honest to ask why a meteoric series like FFVII would do just ‘good’ sales especially when the game content is some of the best in the industry.

[Eonjay]

Final Fantasy was never the great seller you make it out to be. Anticipation was sky high or the original FF7 and FF8 and none of the releases have ever had that much hype or sales. Secondly, when you look at the sales of Remake vs Rebirth and compare the actual launch physical sales to console install base, Rebirth has a higher attach rate meaning its actually selling more compared to the number of PS5s in the wild. And most importantly, we DON'T KNOW the sales of Rebirth... like at all. So this critical missing information makes this pointless.

Your other comparisons are silly FF15 (2016) sold a grand total of 10 million which is just 3 million more than Remakes (2020) 7 million.

God of War was never a top seller until the 2018 remake. The game that released before it only sold 3 million copies. So you are just making that up. The Last of Us is an ACTUAL top seller franchise. It first game has sold many many times more than ANY final fantasy game. So why are you making the comparison.

What you are doing here is taking incomplete information and trying to build a narrative by comparing your incomplete information to unrelated franchises.

[Babadook7]

I don't expect 7 rebirth to be as front loaded as 16. That would solve the problem.

[S2Killinit]

I think its very simple. FFVII is split into 3 episodes, so isnt it logical that the last installment could shed some sales. Overall its been a massive success for them.

[shinoff2183]

The release windows have alot to do with it. Ignore it if you want but ff16 released with literally nothing around it. Rebirth has quite a few other releases.

Then take into account, I've read the double pack(remake, rebirth isn't being counted in these sales).

Then you also have people who wanted turn based. The numbers are larger then some might think. I was able to get over it but plenty aren't. My uncle being one, 100s of posts I see on reddit, and across the net.

Then there's probably some that are just gonna wait for the whole trilogy.

Comparing rebirth and 16 as far as games. Ones actually fun and the other is dark, dull, and boring as fk(16).

It'll jump up in numbers on a pc release sure but let's not act as if xbox would've added much to it cause we know this isn't true(not directed at you just in general)

[Kurt Russell]

It's £70 - that's why I haven't picked it up yet.
Comparatively, Hell Divers cost me £35 and I haven't stopped playing since launch.

£70 removes is way out of range from impulse purchasing, particularly with all the great launches from last year I still haven't picked up and are now discounted.

[AshenEmbers]

God of War not a top seller before the reboot? That is incorrect. Sure it sold more after the reboot as some of the suggestive themes were removed to reach a wider audience.

[VersusDMC]

Because it's lie.

https://www.gamespot.com/ar...

XVI released the same month as Diablo 4 and Street Fighter 6. And with games like Jedi Survivor, Zelda and Hogwarts still selling as well.

But good luck continuing to try to discredit FFXVI sales because you don't like it...

[shinoff2183]

D4 was quickly killed by most, zelda has nothing to do with ps gamers. I'll give you sf and jedi but as an rpg fans go rebirth has way way way more competition

[Servbot41]

Ah yes, the famous JRPGs: Diablo, Street Fighter, Hogwarts and Jedi Survivor.

[VersusDMC]

D4 sold between 6 million first week, probably more that every non rebirth JRPG release this year combined.
People have switches and PS5's, and if they are playing Zelda they are not playing PS5 games.

It is just a fact there was way more competition for FFXVI when it launched. You might say there was no JRPG competition for XVI...but you don't even consider XVI an JRPG or RPG so why would that matter? If Grand theft auto 6 released the same day as XVI would you say it has no competition because it's not the same genre?

And i like Rebirth more than XVI. Just pointing out how idiotic your resoning is.

[KwietStorm_BLM]

Street Fighter 6, the fastest selling entry in their 35 year history, and Diablo 4 are nothing?

[neutralgamer1992]

Nothing is going on. People act like everyone just rushes to buy every game but with the backlog of gamers growing by the day some gamers just want to wait for better sales

Games are launching now a days with needing multiple patches just to bring them to a good stable state. For example I want dragon dogma 2 but will wait till end of the year because I have enough games to play and by waiting I will get a much better experience and pay half the price

Instead of publishers always saying game don’t meet their expectations how about managing the budgets better during development. FF7 remake has been funded mostly by Sony while square enix gets most of the profit. So SE takes very little risk and get all the benefits

FF7 remake trilogy might as well be a Sony published game since SE had no intention to do the remake (to them it was a risk) but just like with silent hill 2 remake it’s Sony taking all the risk. FF16 and FF7 remakes have been very very profitable for SE because they spent so little on development and advertising

[TheEroica]

Apologies.... Lol.

[FinalFantasyFanatic]

I'm actually with CS7 on this, this is a question worth asking, because FF games always sell well on brand name alone, even the more sub-par entries generally sell well, FF16 and FF7 Rebirth have both been more questionable.

[jznrpg]

Crowded release time definitely has a lot to do with it.Some people pick one game
before getting another one.

I used to buy almost everything day 1. My financial situation hasn’t declined but my time situation has so I buy games as I can play them and not as many games day 1 anymore especially during crowded release times like this late winter early spring has had.

[Blad3runner00]

I reckon there are 3 reasons behind the lower then expected sales of Final Fantasy VII Rebirth:

Cannibalization is one of the reasons
1 - Yakuza Infinite Wealth
2 - Persona 3 Remake
3 - Granblue Fantasy
4 - Final Fantasy VII Rebirth

All within, pretty much, a month from each other

Second reason, and this is just a wild guess, probably completely wrong - There are lots of people who don't follow gaming news on sites like this, when they go to the store or Playstation digital store back in 2020 and saw "Final Fantasy VII Remake", they probably thought they were getting the complete game, not a fraction of the game, then got pissed when it wasen't, and didn't bother buying Rebirth.

The number of sales lost for this reason is probably low, but who knows.

Third reason, there is some who are probably just waiting for the "complete" game, after realizing Remake was only just one part of it.

Heck, maybe there are even people who did not like what they did with the story (end part of Remake).

[shinoff2183]

Unicorn overlord, eiyuden 100 heroes, there's plenty more in rebirths way.

[Gamehard]

Those 2 games combined will probably go much over 1 mill sales in the first month of their sales, unfortunately. They're both pretty niche for most gamers... I think Unicorn just hit 500k last week. Sad but true, that game is phenomenal and deserves way more sales.

[Tacoboto]

Persona 3 Reloaded and Like a Dragon Infinite Wealth both became the quickest selling of their franchises with over a million units sold.

IGN's article about Granblue selling over 1 million in mid-Feb mentioned that. So we've got those 3 in million seller status before Rebirth was even out. I can definitely see that being a factor, especially with how big Rebirth is being a marketing point.

[fsfsxii]

FF16 has killed off the brand, when you have a director saying he hates the term jrpg and then releases a pale imitation of western rpgs, people arent going to support your franchise anymore. shame, because Rebirth is an absolute certified banger.

[VersusDMC]

Why would people assume they are getting FFXVI when getting something called FF7REBIRTH?

RE3 was a lower scored game and hated for short length but the next RE game still sold more.

You think it killed the brand simply because you didn't like it. People hated 13 way more and the brand survived so you don't know what you're talking about.

[jwillj2k4]

Most people aren’t in the weeds of how there are different directors for each Final Fantasy game. When a higher up makes a public statement that statement represents the views of the company as a whole unless denounced by someone higher.

[shinoff2183]

Exactly.

[CS7]

This my anecdotal theory too.

But it’s not just XVI but XIII, XV & XVI.

I think so many years without an excellent entry put previous fans off. Not to mention when buying a Final Fantasy game you get a widely inconsistent experience now so you don’t even know what you’re even a fan of. (Compare 7,8,9,10 to 13,14,15,16)

After XVI, as a huge fan of the franchise, I decided I was no longer going to buy day 1 but on sale like I do other games. Rebirth restored my faith in the franchise.

[gold_drake]

i hate to tell you, that most people dont follow gaming news religiously. so id imagine alot of ppl dont know anout what t the Director even said.

but avreed. Rebirth is the best ff game weve ever had. its fantastic

[Duke19]

Honestly I feel like marketing has really diminished for major game releases. Outside of gaming websites, it seems rare to see any type of hype or excitement for an upcoming release.

[CrimsonWing69]

It really bums me out over this one. Seriously, one of the best games I’ve played in a long while, even better than Remake and I absolutely loved that. This should’ve been a mega-hit commercially.

F*cking shame.

[andy85]

It's sad it deserved better, its outstanding. Its sold pretty much what FFXVI did but there's so many JRPGs released since the start of the year its crowded

[jwillj2k4]

I told u fools people are fatigued from too many FF games being released in a relatively short amount of time. U should listen instead of being caught up in feelings. Too many releases of the same types of games (across the board). Too little creative innovation and relying on remakes and remasters. People are becoming bored with gaming overall because it’s soul is being ripped out by GAAS, micro transactions, and a lack of actually caring about gaming. It’s become too business focused and seen as a money extractor first/enjoyment second.

[andy85]

Is two too many? And one of those two wasn't a remake or remaster. And before that the last game was in 2020

[jwillj2k4]

Don’t ask me ask their sales department, but 3 of the same name in 4 years is a lot not even including Nintendo and mobile.

[FinalFantasyFanatic]

I wouldn't say we've had too many FF games recently, I can agree with everything else though.

[-Foxtrot]

Honestly regardless of the sales whatever the matter is.

I personally think they should have just invested more in one big game and went from there. Any other VII games could have been huge remakes of Crisis Core and the like.

We didn't really need 3 whole ambitious games.

[CS7]

I just don’t think one release is feasible without butchering what FFVII is.

Going lower graphics would have been a slap in the face for the legacy that FF7 was upon release.
The overworld would have had to be planet sized and scope or else it kills the entire story of the game.
You need land, sea and air vehicles in a massive open world with tons of dialog, enemies and story.

I think a single release would have been worse.

[-Foxtrot]

" Going lower graphics would have been a slap in the face for the legacy that FF7 was upon release "

We need to realise it's not always about graphics

We could have had something like Ni No Kuni where the overworld is more compact but still fully explorable

https://rpgamer.com/wp-cont...

It came out in 2011, the technology we have now would be able to do this 10 times better and then some.

It didn't have to be an over the top ambitious remixed story.

[CS7]

I guess its a difference of opinion but I would 100% never green light a FFVII remake with that over-world style if I had to make that creative decision.

Cutting edge graphics was part of the allure of the original and a key factor in its success. And the remake should aim to replicate that IMO.

[NotoriousWhiz]

They 100% could've made cutting edge graphics and have that be the only change.

[FinalFantasyFanatic]

@CS7,
I was honestly thinking keeping the old-style overworld would have been a good idea considering budget constraints, just make play areas on the overworld for the player to enter into.

I actually miss overworlds in JRPGs.

[FinalFantasyFanatic]

I feel like the Crisis Core remaster was good enough, I just think they were too ambitious in remaking FF7, probably should have gone a bit more budget with the graphics to make it cheap enough to do the whole game. And I think the graphics is one of the best things about the remake.

[derek]

Let's be real here the only reason this is a question is because it's currently a Sony exclusive, other big legacy franchises who have seen similar declines in sales over the years are not held to the same standard (most of these other franchises have seen decline despite their multi-platform release). FF is just not as popular as it once was 20 plus years ago, it happens. Square can always look to create new ip along with their continued FF release cadence. The franchise still sells reasonably well, and the games are quality for the most part.

[343_Guilty_Spark]

PlayStation exclusivity.

[TwoPicklesGood]

Fans we’ll deny that but it definitely is true

[Juancho51]

The game will have legs, best RPG ive played in a VERY LONG TIME.

[Fonsecap]

This is the reason why developers are betting on games as a service, the real gaming community loves good single players games without Mt's, but the casual gamers don't, they just want a quick fix, and those GaAs deliver them that, and allows them to play with friends and all. I'm not cheering for games as a service , I hate them, but I get why developers are betting on them, you see a game like ffvii rebirth getting a lot of praise and selling poorly and on the other side you see COD:MW3 that seems more like a dlc, was very criticized for that but already made millions for activision and always is on top seeling charts. If we compare great single player games sales with games like FIFA or cod or MT''s sales in games like Roblox and Fortnite, SP games sales are always much lower than the latter.... And that sucks...

[Petebloodyonion]

Perhaps ppl are not in a rush to buy video games at 70$ when they have plenty of stuff to play including Live service game?
Last I checked, the current financial situation was also harder for normal folks so why spend 70$ when there are tons of cheaper alternatives including FF16 who's still receiving DLC.
Also, what's the situation regarding digital sales?

[P_Bomb]

Money’s been tight lately, so I haven’t picked up Rebirth yet. $100 CAD for games, sucks. Something had to give.

[franwex]

Difference here is that this game is absolutely worth it. Instead the sales go to like: Madden, or Call of duty in general.

[TwoPicklesGood]

Majority of players prefer COD and Madden. People play what they like.

[PhillyDonJawn]

Never saw the appeal in FF

[Firebird360]

Imo ff7 should've been released as a complete package and not 3 seperate games.
I think that lowers enthusiasm.
Make it a complete 1 release game.

[TriniOutsider]

All these games sold well. I don't understand why some sites are going after the games.

[Nerdmaster]

I started on FFIV on SNES, and was a big fan until the PS2 era. FFX is still my favorite RPG of all time. I liked the series enough that this year I'll even go to two different FF concerts here in Japan (BRA BRA and Distant Worlds).
But then XI was an mmorpg. And then XII had bad protagonists (Vaan and Penelo) and a boring plot that was more political than character-driven, XIII (and it sequels) was that trainwreck, XIV was another mmorpg, XV was another trainwreck, VII Remake's plot changes regarding whispers smelled like bad fanfiction, XVI didn't even pretend to be an RPG anymore.
Counting the VII Remake, sequels like XIII-2 and Lightning Returns, XII Revenant Wings, even X-2... It's been more than 10 games that I played after the last amazing one (FFX) and couldn't say "that was awesome!". Not even "that was great". And just now it's dawning on me... why have I been giving this series so many chances??

[raWfodog]

“Taking in the information we’ve discussed, it’s clear that whilst sales have slowed down, the Final Fantasy franchise is still performing well. Final Fantasy XV shipped 5 million units globally in one day, Final Fantasy VII Remake sold over 3.5 million in three days globally, and Final Fantasy XVI sold 3 million in one week. There’s a slow down for sure, and VII Rebirth may be lagging, but it’s also hardly terrible sales performance.”

Even the author of the article agrees that this is not ‘terrible sales performance’ but many people still want to make a mountain out of a mole hill. Sales will be fine as time goes on. I want to play this but just have not picked it up yet, and still not going to for a while.

[TwoPicklesGood]

They milked the franchise, plain and simple. Gamers are tired of it.

[raWfodog]

Some gamers may be tired of it, but many others still love it. Nothing different from any other franchise out there other than it’s always ‘expected’ to do high numbers. So when the numbers are just good or average, it gets viewed as ‘terrible’ by some.

[babadivad]

I would have dove in if they just released the whole damned thing at once. It honestly took a lot of the wind out my sails when I found out they were going to stretch it out and milk it like this.

[CantThinkOfAUsername]

The single-player market is shrinking as time goes on. Adults who buy games regularly are caught up in the cost of living crisis where they need to save money, spend more time working, or have become parents. The younger generations aren't interested in anything that isn't social or fuel their addiction to instant gratification.

[Toecutter00]

I plan on waiting for a sale. As for most, games are too expensive at this new and ever rising price point. I'm also still trying to finish Remake so there's no rush. I am new to FF7 and this is the only entry in the series that I truly enjoy. I certainly can see why people hold 7 to be best in class.

[Sgt_Slaughter]

Maybe parting the releases out and having so many FF games in a short time was not a good idea, along with releasing Rebirth in a crowded window.

[gold_drake]

i asked myself the same question, and i really have no idea. FF has always been a seller, i also imaged ff7 remake would be in the 10s of millions of copies sold. that was not the case.

ff16 did well yes but again, not as much as i thought it would tbf.

i think its Square as a whole. not just ff.

[Aaroncls7]

it is a bit weird the numbers are low.
Normally, it would be understandable but Square doesnt mess around and expects top yield from its most prolific projects.
At best we'll see an expedited PC version and perhaps even a PS4 one as well.
At worst, Square will be reassessing the scope of the remakes ...

[Notsofast]

The first thing that he states is that they are not counting digital games so let's just face it people buying discs is in the past I bought it disc edition but for the most part most people are buying these games digitally for one the world at the start of 2020 was not in a major pandemic yet. and by the time 16 came out people were used to buying more games digitally in 2023 so ff7 rebirth should have a pretty big digital sale number.

[shadowT]

FF16 is a great game!

[Barlos]

Yes it is

[FinalFantasyFanatic]

In my own head cannon, I'd like to think people are getting tired of sub-par FF releases, or that they're tired of what Square-Enix is doing with the franchise, but I'm not sure if that's the case. People have also stated pack release schedules, but I'm also unsure of that because FF games are generally regarded as the cream of the crop when it comes to JRPGs. I'm also heard the tired argument of them being PS5 exclusives hurt their sales, which I believe to be nonsense since FF is generally a system seller, has been for the past 4 PS consoles.

I'm also going to state that part of FF7's issue is the naming scheme and multipart release, some people are not happy they didn't get a remake, so they checked out of the story, some people have lost interest (which tends to happen when you make a series of games or a multipart game, natural drop-off).

Personally I'm not happy with how the franchise has been handled the past decade plus (I feel like they abandoned their original fanbase), and I'm not in a rush to buy the game, I'd rather pick other games over it (even the P3 Reload would be tempting if it wasn't for Atlus and their pricing scheme). I'm not buying a PS5 for these games.

[Barlos]

I'm finding Rebirth to be a bit overrated. It's good, but not brilliant by any means. It's bloated with filler. I kind of wish the world was smaller. It's too big, with meaningless things like towers, making it kind of feel like a Ubisoft game. Plus, does Chadley EVER shut up?!

Oh and I really do not like the combat. I wish SE would stop leaning towards the action RPG side and bring back proper traditional combat fitting of the series. If the third part continues down the action RPG type then I won't be buying it, and I'll stick with Persona.

[Cacolaco]

Physical sales don’t tell us much anymore when people are just flat out guessing about the digital sales.

[anast]

In my opinion, in the "west", there was an immense JRPG and Anime boom that lasted from the 80's to roughly 2012/13, but gaming tastes have shifted toward more western styles of art and story telling, for better or worse. There's still a huge crowd that supports JRPGs, but it's not what it once was.

[Eleyon]

I don't really see this as surprising or as some grand mystery. This is Final Fantasy. There isn't anything that was going to get in it's way if people wanted it. Rebirth Being locked on PS5 was not going to help sales. Not as many people have PS5s and many aren't willing to get one for Rebirth whereas Remake MANY living rooms already had PS4s ready and waiting for it. If cost for a GAME is alot to people, than buying a console AND a game is even more.

Take in the fact that modding for Remake on PC was a lot of fun for people and you get another group of people that are willing to now wait for it to hit PC even if they do have a PS5, because then they'd only need to buy the game itself and in their mind, it'd be a superior version anyway. Sales were going to take a hit no matter what for Rebirth. It shouldn't be surprising, it should have been expected.

1: launched on one platform. 2: not as many people have that platform as assumed.

[Eleyon]

Someone said marketing... for this game? Come on...
Additionally, the bloat of other releases can factor in, sure, but the thing those games did that Rebirth didn't?

Relink - PS5, Steam
Like A Dragon - PS5, Xbox, Switch, PC
Persona 3 Reloaded - PS4-5, Xbox, Switch, PC

You especially get people who just naturally get annoyed having played it on PC only to once again see it launch exclusive or have been asking when it's coming to Xbox and Switch. Facts are there. Lots of people are just going to wait for it to hit PC. Wait until May, which is how long they said it'd be exclusive to see what it drops on then and see its sales.