Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth Has Reportedly Sold About Half of What FF7 Remake Did in the Same Timeframe

The acclaimed open world action RPG is "underperforming" where its sales are concerned, according to industry analyst Daniel Ahmad.

[raWfodog]

“Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth Has Reportedly Sold About Half of What FF7 Remake Did in the Same Timeframe”

Makes sense to me since the current PS5 base is about half of what the PS4 base was when FFVII Remake released.

There were about 113 million PS4’s in consumers hands worldwide in 2020 when FFVII Remake was released (towards the beginning of COVID lockdown no less).

PS5 sales currently sits at about half of that (50-something million. We are not in COVID lockdown so many people are not as bored as they were 4 years ago and not in a rush to buy every video game coming out at release. Some PS4 owners may not have upgraded to PS5 yet and therefore can’t buy the sequel yet. And, of course, some who played Remake just might not be interested in Rebirth.

It just seems pretty disingenuous for an analyst to ‘analyze’ a situation when there are so many mitigating and unequal factors involved.

[OtterX]

Yes, this and also finishing part 1 of the Final Fantasy Remake trilogy weighs heavily on it too. There's always a huge percentage of gamers who never finish the games they purchase. It's not always due to lack of enjoyment, but also life priorities etc. But factor that into the knowledge that Rebirth is a straight continuation of the story, and enjoyment lies heavily on having finished the first, you can begin to understand why not as many players jumped in. But absolutely too, the lesser install base of the PS5 played a huge role!

[jjb1981]

I started the game when it came out, played about 2/3 of the way through and finished the rest in the last month before rebirth came out. There are just too many games and too much adulting to do.

[Eonjay]

It sold about half... with about half as many PS5s available as PS4 had when it launched in 2020. So... the tie ratio is about the same. As PS5s continue to sale it should eventually match Remake. It's a really good game.

[fr0sty]

I think there's going to be another wave of buyers that purchase the game once the third part of the trilogy is released, especially if they release it as a bundle.

[jambola]

Excuse me sir
Industry analyst Daniel Ahmad said this 🙄

[Obscure_Observer]

"Industry analyst Daniel Ahmad said this 🙄"

That guy is director of research & insights at Niko Partners.

https://nikopartners.com/

But he shouldn´t be trusted according to some "trust me bro" N4G random. Smh

[Barlos]

Obscure Observer, so by your logic, we should also trust Pachter? Come on, it's like you're not even trying any more.

[MrNinosan]

@Obscure
"We cover China, Chinese Taipei, Egypt, India, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Philippines, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, South Korea, Thailand, United Arab Emirates, and Vietnam."

Yepp, very trusted and the biggest areas for videogame sales.

[RNTody]

@raWfodog You'd think an analyst would catch these facts, but just goes to show what gaming analysts are made of. We've only in the last year moved to PS5 only games, in addition to the install base cross-gen has been around for years. There are a lot of PS4 players still over there. It's amazing when people compare things whilst isolating all the significant facts.

And Rebirth being a direct sequel is also valid: anecdotally, I've just started FF7 Remake a week ago and I'm loving it, on Chapter 8, but I'm obviously not going to buy Rebirth until I complete the story which will take time.

[Ironmike]

But it's hasn't sold as much the articles om Google stating bit so what if it hasn't the game is still great better than remake which tailed of in middle-of-the- game

[TheEroica]

Apologists always know what to say... 👍
Is it possible to squeeze in one more excuses for FF7 sales? Go for it!

[RNTody]

@TheEroica Understand the meaning of the words you use or don't use them. An apologist argues in defense of something controversial or problematic. Pointing out relevant facts that an analysis or article did not take into account is constructive feedback and discussion. There are great movies, games and other forms of art that don't sell as expected, but later gain financial success.

Example? The Godfather Part 2 underperformed financially compared to its predecessor but is widely hailed as one of the greatest films and sequels of all time and is still influential to this day. And no, I'm not comparing Final Fantasy 7 to the Godfather, before you draw that strawman. There is one loose similarity however in that Rebirth is also overwhelmingly acclaimed and considered superior to the first.

Given the decision to split Final Fantasy VII into three separate games, of which Rebirth released exclusively for PS5 leaving the PS4 install base behind, and the final installment due in 2027, the sales performance is a bit more of a conversation than you're trying to make it out to be.

[Crows90]

Didn't even mention price increases across the board for all games...this causes all people to be more picky and limit game purchases

[GoodGuy09]

Unfortunate but it's the reality of sequels. And I simply just don't hear much people talk about rebirth and even remake as these titles just seem too hard to get into with many newcomers and old fans that are upset with the many changes.

[Eonjay]

The games are really good and both acclaimed and Rebirth is even better than Remake with a 90+ metascore but if you don't want to 'hear' the praise... you probably wont.

[TheProfessional]

It's kind of ridiculous how some people here are just making stuff up to explain the low sales. Just because you bought the game and you like it doesn't mean it sold better than it did. Same with FFXVI.

[XiNatsuDragnel]

That's unfortunate

[rpvenom]

For me its cause now that i know it releases on pc.. id rather play it with mods on my pc than my ps5

[gold_drake]

well, according to some other reports, it had 2.1 mio. players in the first week.

so, who to believe now.

[ZeekQuattro]

It's safe to say if it sold that Square would of made a sales milestone announcement like they did with past FF entries or other IPs in general. They did a FF16 sales update within 2 weeks after it launched for instance.

[gold_drake]

there is no way this game hasnt already sold more than remake.

there doesnt need to be an announcement for everything, especially not if they released several updates amd the ultimania.

people are too obsessed with sales

[CrimsonWing69]

I think there’s a reason we haven’t seen a celebratory tweet from Square on the sales. It came out on Feb. 29th and it’s Apr. 13th right now… that ain’t a good sign. I think this one can reach 3 mill at some point but will be behind Remake, which when it comes to business, that ain’t good.

[TheColbertinator]

Steam version any day now

[Furesis]

It will go to Epic Games first like all square games, then 6 months later it'll be on steam, so maybe mid 2025
Hell steam still doesn't even have kingdom hearts yet.

[Nerdmaster]

So there are people who still think the game will be released on PC right after the "exclusivity period" ends?
Remember that FF16's PS5 exclusivity ended in December 2023, and they still didn't announce a PC release date. FFVII Remake took 1.5 year to be released on PC. So expecting Rebirth to suddenly drop on PC only 3 months after the PS5 version, with no announcements from Square, is unrealistic

[CrimsonWing69]

It’s really sad. This is why we can’t have nice things.

[NotoriousWhiz]

Rebirth just has a ton of competition compared to remake. I bought rebirth at launch. I probably should've waited because SRPGs are my favorite genre and I had to jump into Unicorn overlord. I tried to wait but it just looked too appealing. Caved and bought it last week and already put more time into it than I did rebirth. I'll 100% get back to rebirth after finishing unicorn overlord. I also know plenty of people planning to pick up rebirth after they get through Dragons Dogma 2.

[phoenixwing]

I waited and bought rise of ronin instead. I like the new remakes but I already played the original. I know the cannon story and this new one feels like fan fiction because of it. Not that I won't buy them it's just I don't feel I need it immediately

[DOMination-]

But only PlayStation gamers buy games

[jznrpg]

It’s sold half of the first game with half the user base of the original. That’s the same attachment rate.

[DOMination-]

I don't buy that at all. After people cried for two decades about a remake, Square Enix finally made it and it only sold 7 million with as somebody said above well over 100 million install base. The original sold considerably more with less install base so what happens to the attachment rate argument there?

There's way less games to play this generation as well. In the last 12 months there's been precisely two big AAA games on either console (Spider-Man 2 and Starfield) - neither of which came out recently or should have any impact on the sales of a JRPG.

People using excuses like "people are buying Unicorn Overload or Granblue" is just ridiculous. This is Final Fantasy VII - supposedly the juggernaut of the genre.

Of course, this is nothing to do with PlayStation gamers (yes, shocking news I love to troll the N4G community) but to be serious for a second, this highlights what we already know; console sales are shrinking, software sales are shrinking, PC market is shrinking.. yet the games industry is bigger than ever. The reason for that is because the money being made is coming from mobile and microtransactions.

So as much as we like to moan about those things, the sad truth is when AAA single player games release, the mass market simply doesn't buy them like they used to. There are exceptions of course but these types of games are now a huge risk.

Also people like me are a huge part of the problem. I loved FF7 but now as an adult, I don't feel the need to pay $70 to play a game day one as ultimately, my experience doesn't change if I play it a year or two later now. And if I wait long enough, it'll probably pop up for "free" on PS+ as an enhanced edition for PS5 Pro (which is exactly how I ended up playing Remake).

[Michiel1989]

@domination there were also way less good games to pick from during that era. FF7 was THE flagship title that all other jrpgs aspired to be, there was nothing like it when it released. Even though FF7 remake + rebirth is great, it doesn't have that title anymore. The competition have caught up and honestly, releasing in Q1 2024 probably wasn't the best choise.

Even if it only sold half of remake, that's still great sales though. Not sure why everyone is so upset.

[nommers]

The OG FF7 sold about 14 million up to now, after over 20 years. The Remake sold half of that within 3-4 years. Both Rebirth and Remake will sell much more over time.

[AndrewM]

Good, maybe this will teach them to lower the visuals on games so they can be made more quickly and much cheaper. Instead of pushing practices that break the AAA industry.

[MrNinosan]

4 years for an amazing game as Rebirth ain't long time.
I rather have the qualtiy that Rebirth is in 4 years, than copy paste games every 2-3 years.

[CrashMania]

A fantastic game that hopefully will have legs and PC will boost the sales when it arrives there. I think a bit of context is needed though, with the first launching at the peak of the first covid wave, on a 100+ million PS4 userbase, and this being a sequel. The narrative it would have somehow sold gangbusters if it released on Xbox is just lol.

Even so, I hope it eventually sells strongly, I'm sure the deal with Sony helped with devs costs and they were able to re-use a lot of assets and gameplay mechanics.

[dmonee]

It’s really good and I hope more people give it a chance when they get around to it. It’s twice the game that remake tried to be.

[DivineHand125]

There are several reasons that can explain why the game sold less.

1) The game is at a $70 price tag. While many big budget titles are $70 these days, the current economy is making it harder to spend that much these days.

2) The game came out close to Dragons Dogma 2. Many fans of the original Dragons Dogma were waiting for a secuel to the game for years and to them the excitement may have been greater than FF7 Rebirth.

3) Smaller PS5 install base. FF7 Remake released in 2020. This is then same year the PS5 came out and the hype for the game was much higher back then.

[babadivad]

Something happened with FF13, 13-2, and 13-3. You'd think they would have learned their lesson.

[franwex]

But less install base. What’s the attachement rate?

[purple101]

Wouldn’t it be higher

Because if ps5 sold HALF amount, but with LESS than half the amount of ps5’s out in the wild, it actually sold more, per customer using that metric

Quite impressive

[Youngindy21]

Not surprising seeing as the only people who can play it are PS5 owners. Leaving PC, PS4, Xbox, and Switch owners out in the cold was dumb. There's way too many other games to play to where I can't be bothered with this stupid exclusivity stuff.

[jambola]

this on the switch? lol

[jwillj2k4]

Leaving ps4 out is stupid esp since the first one is there. Very dumb decision.

[Michiel1989]

creating a game for next gen that's been out for 3.5 years while having to work around the limitations of ps4,a console running on 10 year old hardware, ain't a great choice either.

[northpaws]

In theory the sales would only go lower and lower, because you kinda need to play the first one first, then people who liked the game would play the next one, and then a smaller portion for the third.

That's my theory.

[Nacho_Z]

Remake was on PS4, Rebirth isn't. You don't need to be a genius to get to the bottom of the mystery.

[MocBistro]

Games are getting ridiculously expensive, there is no point getting games at release I'd rather wait for used discs/complete ediions if the games are really good. Plus, they got greedy and make one game into three.

[MrNinosan]

If that's right, it's amazing.
Means higher attach rate even thou it's a direct sequel which tends to sell less and also released in a way more crowded period and in times when economy is crap.

Amazing results for Rebirth, that will probably keep on selling great for some time.

[weissmuller]

Or people are confused by the 3 different remakes in recent years? I have never played the original ffvii and have no idea if I have played it through any of these two/three versions. And frankly I am to afraid to ask now :-)

[shadowT]

FF7 Rebirth will be my next game!

[Ironmike]

There's being comments removed on here were one guy put multiple pieces of proof that it had not sold as much I was on here yesterday and now the comments gone very dodgy indeed

[Gravesinger_]

Looks like they'll be moving that GLORIUS PC release date up a bit I guess to make up some of the money HAHAHA

[TwoPicklesGood]

Ouch

[Babadook7]

Time will tell. I don’t trust many of the analysts. This guy is very fishy in particular.

[Dfooster]

People probably not in a rush to get it given we can't complete the story for another three years at least. Given the price of games I reckon many people will pick this up in a sale before part 3 comes out.