Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth sales reportedly underperforming, half of Remake, less than 16 in Japan

Final Fantasy 7 rebirth the second part of the Final Fantasy 7 remake Trilogy series that has been highly anticipated given how symbolic and iconic Final Fantasy 7 is to gaming history uh it's garnered great positive critical reception across both you know media atlet and reviewers and players alike and I myself while I haven't finished the game I mean it is a game that shows a lot of love for the seminal characters and the seminal world uh and it's great to see that the trilogy so far is being done Justice given the Monumental task of remaking something so iconic from the visuals to the gameplay and the characters and the way they're developed and uh kind of brought to life and the story uh so far people are really jiving with this series and uh are Reen with these classic characters but uh in terms of game sales that's where there's some concerns about how the second part how rebirth is performing especially compared to the first though there are different circumstances but even compared to Final Fantasy 16 which was considered to be sort of one of the Lesser performing final fantasies a rebirth is not doing as well as that so let's take a look at that it all began with Daniel akmad who is an analyst in the games industry uh kind of responding to somebody who was talking about about how it's insane to suggest that people aren't playing the Remake series or games like rebirth for the story when so much of the investment surrounding Final Fantasy 7 is a story The response that Daniel akmad provided was that also not to be that guy but rebirth is underperforming sales-wise not that sales performance is related to what that guy said LOL there's a bit of a bombshell to just casually drop in a response to a Twitter thread but the reason that he didn't want to put this out there and blast it out was because there's just inevitable harassment from just the more psychotic Mega fans who will harass anyone even if they're just the messenger of just data that is you know just factual so Dan akmad tweeted just remember why don't publicly comment on sales performance of games anymore because people lose their minds if you tell them their favorite franchise didn't sell a bajillion copies and they'll attack somebody who's not responsible for the sales figures of a game they're again just shooting the messenger now adding further details on how he got this information he said that it's selling about half of what remake sold in the same time frame and looks like it'll have a weaker tail and then when asked you know where does this data come from who's the source he said equi research reports for getting the data from the usual trackers now as I said before it is worth noting that circumstances between remake and rebirth are different when remake launched that was all the way back in April of 2020 when it had an install base of over 100 million units we're talking about the late stages of the PS4 Generation by that time PS4 had kind of peaked in sales and so its install base was twice that of rebirths which currently has a user base of roughly 50 million PlayStation 5 users rebirth is a PlayStation 5 exclusive as of now and apparently there's this market research firm going by the name Ander analysis that said that Final Fantasy 7 rebirth did Peak at 2.21 million daily active users at launch so that gives you some kind of idea for how much this game sold total within its launch time period it is likely less than the 3.5 million sold by Final Fantasy 7 remake in the first 3 days but still sold a couple million there's also the fact that as Zog gamer pointed out when remake launched that was during Co when video games sales were boosted by the fact that everyone was locked in and were looking for entertainment a lot of Industries suffered during Co but there are some like video games that did definitely Thrive and so that probably on some level helped boost remake numbers your gamer also mentions that remakes launch predates the current economic crisis going on the cost of living crisis that has people being just much more prudent about their expenditures and combine that with the lower overall user base that rebirth currently has as a result of its PS5 exclusivity and you get a combo where it kind of makes sense that rebirth actually sold less than remake did now what's interesting is that if you look at Japanese sales numbers rebirths figures are a bit concerning so recall that Final Fantasy 16 by Final Fantasy standards sold Less in Japan than is normal for Final Fantasy games it managed over 336,000 units within its launch period Which is less than half of what remake did during its launch period in Japan when it sold over 72,000 physical units roughly and I already discussed this in a previous video but when analysts looked at Final Fantasy 16's numbers they saw that even if you take the discrepancy of install base kind of into consideration of Final Fantasy 16 in terms of how its tracking in its sales pacing it's lower than usual in Japan it would seem as the final fantasy 16 in particular didn't appeal to the Japanese audience base as much as the other games that because it did shift directions it was more of like an action adventure game with uh realtime combat rather than the more sort of RPG style turn-based combat or or some kind of element of a blend between action and RPG it's a game that's proven a bit divisive because of just the very different direction that it went in compared to the traditional Final Fantasy experience Ian and so that I think and so it's generally agreed that that did on some level impact Final Fantasy 16's performance negatively in Japan now even compared to Final Fantasy 16 Final Fantasy 7 rebirth sales in Japan look weaker at over 262,000 physical units in Japan on debut compared to Final Fantasy 16's over 336,000 units both of these games released under similar circumstances of them being PlayStation 5 exclusives and also keep in mind that when Final Fantasy 16 launched that had a lower install base of PlayStation 5 users because Final Fantasy 16 came out before Final Fantasy 7 rebirth did so the fact that rebirth sold less than Final Fantasy 16 despite the fact that they're both in the same circumstance of being PlayStation 5 exclusives and despite the fact that rebirth does have a bigger install base because it came out after Final Fantasy 16 that does not bode well for the game's performance in Japan and then looking at us figures that are out right now Matt piscatella posted the following chart that details February 2024 top 20 bestselling premium games and this is a combination of both physical and digital you can see right here that of course Final Fantasy 7 rebirth was high in the charts it was at number two but hell divers 2 beat it out which suggests that while Final Fantasy 7 rebirth did do pretty well in sales it it wasn't like a sensation like hell divers 2 ended up being being in a rather surprising fashion given how Niche hell divers 1 was before hell divers 2 just blew the IP out of the water with I mean just a really awesome game with a really great Starship Troopers kind of tone and adaptation and inspiration that uh turned it into a multiplayer Co-op Extravaganza now I'll be curious to hear how Square Enix feels about these sales figures in their upcoming investors meeting where they'll have to talk to investors and let them know if rebirth sales met expectations exceeded expectations or underperformed and did not meet expectations but so far it's looking like the player base of the sequel has diminished from the first game which you don't want to see in a series that obviously the goal is to grow as new entries are released now I imagine that scenix will try to boost sales figures for this game by releasing rebirth on PC like they did with remake A little over a year after launch on Playstation I'm curious as to whether rebirth seemingly underperforming will accelerate those plans so they can get rebirth to more customers and to as many hands as possible to Garner more revenue and more profits before they have to tell investors the reality of the game's commercial performance I'll be honest with you I'm surprised to see that rebirth is underperforming to such a degree again there are circumstances that played into why rebirth did worse than remake did in terms of of its debut sales but Danel akmad is also pointing out that over the long term it's looking like the game just has a weaker tail I thought for sure remake entice people to return to the world of Final Fantasy 7 and with how much positive reception rebirth God I was sure that the game's performance would indicate just a good Trend a good positive growing Trend overall but uh that doesn't look like it's the case now I want to emphasize that rebirth is not flopping per se but when it comes to how Cor operations run they do have lines that they draw in terms of this is how many units we at least expect to sell so that we can look good in the eyes of investors and in that sense Final Fantasy 7 rebirth The Hope was likely higher for its commercial performance and of course uh the uh the dream is for each new entry to Garner greater numbers of players as the series becomes more popular but when you see a downwards Trend like this uh that's not something that investors are going to like to hear which puts Square Enix from a corporate perspective in a precarious position and also there is not going to impact whether the third entry in this Trilogy gets made that's already been confirmed according to video games Chronicles report here rebirth creative director tsura reportedly said that the third game's main story has already been completed and he thinks voice recording could start in the near future it was also relayed by series producer yoshinori kitas that rebirth was made in about 3 years largely thanks to employee retention the fact that the same team that worked on remake worked on rebirth and it seemed as though the plan is to retain as many employees as possible for the final entry so perhaps we can expect like a roughly three years long development cycle for the final entry of the ff7 Remake series hopefully by the time the trilogy is completed now that you will have a full complete experience that'll boost sales across the board and rebirth we'll see a boost as well and ultimately in the long term uh all three games across the board will sell just really well and in a commercially satisfactory way uh because I do think that so far uh this series you can tell that the developers really poured their hearts and souls into it and really love and cherish Final Fantasy 7 as an entry and as a world and uh are really giving fans um just a lot to uh to munch on uh with uh great narrative and character materials that uh are enhanced by modern technology with you know graphics and visuals that couldn't be realized back in the PS1 days to see the world realized at such high fidelity now uh with uh such an incredible presentation is really really dope and hopefully this isn't indicative of a future where the third entry somehow ends up selling even less uh but you know I imagine it being the grand finale like that that's going to carry a lot of weight I suppose only time will tell what the fature holds in the meantime though let me know in the comments below what your thoughts and opinions are on reports of Final Fantasy 7 rebirth commercially underperforming and if you've played the game what did you think of rebirth was it an experience that you enjoyed that makes you optimistic about the third entry or do you have quals with it that kind of turned you off share your thoughts about the game and its current state based on reports in the comments below and to be further updated on all things gaming news reviews and discussions stay tuned right here on Yong yeah I'll see you guys next time Yong out

Channel: YongYea

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Length: 12min 28sec (748 seconds)

Published: Sat Apr 20 2024