Japan Sales Charts: Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth Tops, But Doesn't Even Come Close to Remake

surprised its doing worse than 16

Part 1 was extremely devisive this is no surprise

I understand Remake doing better with a far higher install base but being behind 16's sales is very odd?!? It is a competitive market though. Loving the game and hope it reaches more people.

Even with such a hitter like Rebirth, the PS5 sales numbers are behind the Switch numbers. That’s totally crazy.

I believe most people bought digital idk why we keep looking at physical sales like it something when we live in a digital world.

I wonder why though as its not a bad game at all, infact it's scoring game of the year reviews with a 92 metacritic rating. Maybe Japanese players are just not interested in anything that's not on the Switch?

These top JRPG's on high end systems seem to do better in the west than they do in their own market, sad times but Japanese players just want simple graphics and handheld capabilities for their gaming.

@Gr8VngnzN4esAngr Unfortunately, install base isn't really the argument that people think it is. Don't get me wrong, more consoles = more potential sales, but fundamentally speaking, if a game's going to sell, it's going to sell. If people want the game, people will buy the hardware for it.

This is especially true in Japan, where the PS4 had only sold around 9 million units by the time Remake came out.

Japan is a weird market. They have entirely entered the switch and mobile space in terms of popularity. More digital probably now, pc would help yes. Can people stop acting like this could run on the switch and acting like xbox would make any impact on sales.

Also its coming out in an absolute juggernaut of a lineup in high quality JRPGs which probably will eat many games day 1 numbers

So at some point we’ll get the digital numbers of all games right? Right?🤷🏻‍♂️

So anyone know word on the street in Japan as to why this is the case? Blasphemy? I mean it is FF7 after all and they messed w/ it a bit. People waiting for the 3rd part of the trilogy b/c there’s really no point playing the middle part until it’s done? I’d blame the price but I’m assuming it’s no more expensive than 16 was.

Looks like Square will be along soon with their standard press release of "game did not meet our expectations" just like they did for Forspoken and FF16.

They really seem to make terrible decision after terrible decision the last few years judging on their declining financial results

And people ask why Sony isn't that interested in Japan anymore. If Japanese games do better in Europe and US why even bother.

@Sakai What more can you do then release a quality game then drop the Japanese market completely.

@Sakai What terrible decision did they make this time? The game is reviewing really well and the majority of those who have played it says it's fantastic. They have done nothing wrong but skip out the Switch player base, so maybe it's time for Final Fantasy to go back to cartoony visuals so it can release new releases on Nintendo consoles to get more sales. The problem with Japan is if its not on the switch then no one's interested so Japanese developers have a tough choice, either make the game they want and sell poorly in their own market or downscale their game so it can run on the switch to get better sales.

This is very unfortunate, given how fantastic Rebirth is. I haven't finished yet, but this game will most likely end up being one of my all-time favorite games.

@UltimateOtaku91 @Flaming_Kaiser with the increasing cost of game development, and current volatility in the gaming market, I would assume they are thinking long and hard about their exclusivity strategy moving forward, as none of their games have hit the numbers required, only being on PlayStation.

This was true of FF16, Forspoken and now FF7 Rebirth. With the way the industry is going, something has to change. You have been able to pick up FF16 from Amazon for a little over £20 for months, its where I purchased it.

Maybe they have a different strategy, but they need to do something as their financial results have been on the decline for a while.

Also it's worth bearing in mind that the first FF7 was titled Remake and unless you are visiting gaming sites every day you may not be aware that this is the second game of a trilogy.

I like FF but even I am confused by FF sequels. The general public may not know or particularly care for a numbered sequel, or shrug, - 'thought that game came out a few years ago'?

Everyone I know that bought physical ps4 Remake all picked up the digital version. Two of the half-dozen of my friends picked up digital specifically to use on their PS Portal so I'm not sure how much we can read into this.

Interesting how either Gematsu nor Famitsu mention that sales "preoccupation", on their articles. It is just Push Square. Having said that, I am not concerned. Let's circle back in 3 months (they can even pull a HellDivers 2?)

Also, it is time for sales trackers to include digital sales. It is absurd that at this time, in this digital era, we are still counting physical copies completely alienated from their digital counterparts.

I think it's to do with the announced exclusivity side of things. Remake was 1 year PS4 exclusive, 16 was 6 months PS5 exclusive and Rebirth is 3 months PS5 exclusive. Considering the lifespan of the Switch so far and Square Enix's support of the Switch, until yesterday's article about Remake and Rebirth being PS console exclusive (rather than launch console exclusive) you could deduce that recent PS exclusive FF would come to Switch's successor.

Plenty of people are willing to wait for games to come to their system of choice if you give them any hope that it could come to that system.

@Sakai But being on Xbox won't change that especially in Japan, so they would need to change their top games development wise to make them run on the current Nintendo Console. It's a big decision for them but they need to decide, either make big budget high visual games and miss out on the most popular console or make games with dragon quest monsters like visuals and a lower budget so they can be on all consoles.

@Sakai Pretty sure the money Sony paid for the exclusivity makes up for some of the "lost sales."

This exclusive strategy square has done has been an abject failure

@UltimateOtaku91 I didn't mention xbox, but yes you are correct they do have other options available to them like lowering the budgets or size and scope of their games, but personally I would prefer them to just release them to a bigger audience and leave the games alone. Lowering the scope or quality would be a bad idea in my opinion. That's what I meant when I said they do have other options.

@3Above I imagine when Square state that sales did not meet expectations, that their expectations are based around the contract signed with Sony, so I would assume the money does not make up for it, as they are still below expectations.

If you want to talk about doing numbers in Japan it's a mainline Dragon Quest or Monster Hunter..

More impressed with PS5 numebers with PS4 despite the massive shortage. 16 was the best selling (game) launch on PS5 there, GT7 is closely behind it. Rebirth is third on that list.

@Sakai Square wants the PS1 era numbers of 15mill+ for their entries. In my opinion 13 and 15 have severely damaged the reputation of FF with the generation that grew up during that.

Switch is the best portable that I have ever played. I loved my Vita but it didn’t have the same support as Switch. I love my PS5, the Portal, and the Switch. I do wish the Portal could at least play the PS4 games natively. Nintendo just dominates Japan which is why Sony struggles there. If Final Fantasy 7 was playable in handheld native format, I think Sony would have had a better chance against Nintendo.

Certainly the digital-only twin pack, which was a fantastic deal, is the real culprit here. No cause for concern at all.

@CrackmanNL I imagine their expectations are based around how much profit they need to make, to make their business viable, their return on investment.

With their worsening financial results, Square said they were relying more and more on their big games to do the heavy lifting, which just is not happening, based on their last 3 big game releases which were all PS exclusive.

@jt887 it sounds sensible, but I would also include the Switch, even if its a Cloud version. To ignore the biggest console market and everything else is certainly an interesting decision.

I guess you reap what you sow

PQ seems to be pessimistic on Rebirth don't you think? These sales charts always seemed to be put into a negative light.

@DennisReynolds Exactly my thoughts. The game has been out for just a week, and this report is a) about sales in a single country and b) physical copies only.

@Sakai I dont look at it that way as the Exclusivity money isnt part of the sales forecast, but ok 🤷🏾‍♂️

Hopefully digital sales and worldwide total sales paint a rosier picture! Game is great so far and should be a success. Does make me wonder what those 4 million PS5 owners are playing (unless of course there has been a massive transition over to digital in Japan). Agree with others, digital and physical sales numbers definitely need to be combined now

@spcspc And c) a report on exactly what the charts show, which is Rebirth selling significantly less than Remake at launch.

@ShogunRok
Absolutely, the numbers don't lie. Still, there are many variables here.
PS4 base, digital copies on the rise, pandemic...although the numbers don't lie, I am not as pessimistic as PS. The game JUST launched amid critical acclaim (both from players and media alike), and the road is still ahead. I am definitely more interested in how the game performs both in Europe and the US than just Japan.

@3Above I am pretty sure Square would use all their available information before making a forecast, and not just ignore the details of a contract signed by themselves and Sony, but we are both just speculating at this point.

This is literally just Japan's Physical sales numbers? Nowhere near the whole picture so I'm not really sure what everyone's getting so worked up about.

@somnambulance They'll be fine. Whenever a new FF title releases this discussion just repeats itself again and again and again. Also glad you like the new games, I myself love them aswell and think that FF is still going very strong,I never miss a new installment.

Easily my favourite series.

@spcspc Of course! I'm sure it'll do well enough — the question is whether Square Enix thinks the same. It'll be very interesting to see whether it comments on sales sooner rather than later.

I wonder if the price increase was a potential factor. A lot of people would much rather wait for a small price drop then pay full price, especially nowadays.

@Sakai Very true, neither of us know anything for certain.

My line of reasoning was that SE would make their forecast based on how many copies they THINK they will sell and not how many the NEED to sell to break even ect. For example based on Remake sales they expect to sell X but to make a profit they need to sell Y.

But obviously i dont know for sure.

Last one was on PS4 which I assume more people have?

@Cloud39472 They definitely love stirring the pot! 😁
(By 2,000 Gil)

Could the demo not have had any impact on day one sales of this title?

We come up with excuse after excuse all because mainstream critics pile on rave reviews and God forbid they may not translate to hive mind agreement and thus sales.
Could it be that some proportion of the actual gaming base here, abroad, or both just don't agree or at the least don't want to play a re-imagining of a classic in the release day technical condition it is in? Or perhaps some just don't want to soil the nostalgia of the original at all. That doesn't even touch on the fact that the east is largely addicted to mobile gaming.

Where are the western sales figures? Have those been hidden? Will those be reported on?

I myself had my opinion changed on a release window purchase solely based on its shoddy polish and cut corners technically. Which is now likely for DD2 as well. Surely others have held off as well. We are being asked to pay to play unpolished/optomized products at an ever increasing rate from AAA outfits. It's unacceptable.

@Sakai Yeah put it on Xbox where it does not sell maybe put it Gamepass where it makes your games even worth less. I don't even know how much money Sony it to help with development and advertising. I think the biggest issue that it takes to long before the full game is released I would not find it weird if people wanted to wait for a complete package.

I was excited for remake but ended up being lukewarm on it. I'm content waiting them out for a steep discount this time around.

@Kraaatos
Why? 16 was a standalone game. Rebirth requires that you’ve already played Remake as it’s a sequel. In fact the middle part of an unfinished trilogy which many may be waiting to be finished. It’s also more expensive than 16 at release I believe. Might be wrong on that.

@3Above I am sure that calculation would be a part of it 100%, but as a small business owner myself, they would be insane to ignore the details of their contracts around the game. You cant make an informed decision without all the relevant information.

But as their financial results have been worsening, maybe they did ignore a whole load of valuable information and you are correct. They have given me the impression of a rudderless poorly managed company for a while now, what with their failed NFT obsession and everything.

Thanks for the interesting and informative response, its made me think a little deeper about the subject

@Flaming_Kaiser I didn't mention Xbox, but increasing the size of your market is certainly one way to make more money, you are correct. But I would assume Switch and PC would be a higher priority due to their install bases. Releasing there day 1 would of also helped, maybe they will for part 3 who knows

@Sakai That would make the game a lot uglier or extra development time maybe the Switch 2 also i waiting a long time to get the complete package maybe a lot of other think the same way.

I keep saying it. Quality =/= sales, unfortunately.

Hopefully, the rest of the world will embrace it a bit more. We need it to perform well enough for the third part to get the right budget and for us to end up with a great trilogy in the end.

@Flaming_Kaiser They will need to make a change as its looking like it could be 3 big games in a row that have not met expectations, after Forspoken and FF16. Increasing their market or lowering the budget of the game are the 2 most obvious answers. I would prefer option 1 personally, but its really up to Square, let just hope they do not decide to double down on NFTs

Square have already said that they are relying on their big games doing the heavily lifting from a financial standpoint, so they need to do something. I picked up FF16 for £21.95 from Amazon in January, and its still available for less than £30, which is an indication that all is not going well at Square.

The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results

What people need to understand if that Remake was released during covid with a higher amount of consoles, those points are relevant.

I think it was pretty expected to fall sale-wise compared to remake simply because its a 2nd part in a trilogy which does impact sales. - Point can make sense why its lower then FF16 also.

I think the bigger issue in JP is in general PS5 games just not selling well, seems like people have moved to phones/switch and prefer to buy games for those.

Another point to add is that JP used to be a much higher share for FF games but that was when Playstation games in general were also selling.. if JP is not buying Playstation games in general then you need to boost international sales which they pretty much did for FF16.

Releasing on Xbox would have done nothing for its sales in JP.

I really wish we could get digital sales data from JP though, I know its not huge but still curious of the digital sales between Rebirth and 16.

@Sakai I think FF16 did meet their expectations unless you are misquoting what they said which surely you wouldnt do right..

@ShogunRok I wonder if it's the reported length of the game or many like myself who enjoyed Remake but weren't blown away by it as it kind of dragged on and may be put off. Or perhaps the lacklustre visuals in the demo, or even an indication of many have nostalgia for Midgar as the opening part of the original game but many may not have actually finished it.

For me its just there are too many games at the moment and coming off the back of Like A Dragon I don't want to commit to another big game yet and then there's Dragons Dogma soon

I wonder how Square will approach the inevitable 3rd game in the trilogy with these figures.

I reckon more people bought digital but I am certain they were expecting better sales than this regardless

@Netret0120 I honestly don't think they were expecting much from JP if they were paying attention to game sales overall for PS5. They really should release their games on Playstation/PC on day 1. Xbox has never been big on FF but PC would give them a lot more I feel.

@Wotad It did not, and no misquotes here, it was said by Squares president Takashi Kiryu at their earnings call. It was even covered right here on Pushsquare...

Article from Pushsquare: https://www.pushsquare.com/news/2023/08/square-enix-bafflingly-backtracks-on-final-fantasy-16-sales-blames-slow-ps5-adoption
Article from Eurogamer: https://www.eurogamer.net/final-fantasy-16-sales-did-not-meet-high-expectations-says-square-enix-president#:~:text=Final%20Fantasy%20XVI-,Final%20Fantasy%2016%20sales%20did%20not%20meet%20high%20expectations%2C%20says,Blames%20slow%20adoption%20of%20PS5.&text=Sales%20of%20Final%20Fantasy%2016,expectations%2C%20said%20president%20Takashi%20Kiryu.

@Sakai

https://www.kitguru.net/tech-news/mustafa-mahmoud/square-enix-confirms-that-ffxvi-did-in-fact-meet-sales-expectations/#:~:text=Square%20Enix%20confirms%20that%20FFXVI%20did%20in%20fact%20meet%20sales%20expectations,-Mustafa%20Mahmoud%20January&text=One%20of%20Square%20Enix's%20biggest,not%20meet%20its%20sales%20expectations.

It was in line with our expectations. To maximize our sales of ‘FF16' over an 18-month period, we intend to roll out downloadable content & the PC version when the timing is optimal.”

@Wotad Yes your article is from January, Square backtracked on that at their earnings call, blaming slow adoption of the PS5, as explained in the pushsquare article which is dated months later in August, that I linked for you already.

https://www.pushsquare.com/news/2023/08/square-enix-bafflingly-backtracks-on-final-fantasy-16-sales-blames-slow-ps5-adoption

Now, however, new Square Enix boss Takashi Kiryu is saying that the action RPG didn't meet the publisher's higher-end expectations.

The backtrack comes courtesy of the company's latest earnings report, as covered by Bloomberg (paywall). It was apparently a rough one, with Square Enix pointing out a 79% drop in profit. The part that's bound to raise eyebrows, though? Kiryu highlighted the PS5's "slow adoption" as a cause of Final Fantasy 16's struggles. This is despite Sony's current-gen console recently breaking records left and right.

It is also explained in the Eurogamer article I also linked for you

Pity it's not doing terribly well at the moment. Game looks tops. If it was a proper exclusive, I'd have bought a PS5 to play it.

In general, based on what I've seen, it's everything I'd want from a modern Final Fantasy game.

Eagerly awaiting the Steam release.

@Wotad Sounds about as clear as mud. But thanks for the further information, I appreciate it, its something I must have missed.

Although I am not sure the "people like you" comments are exactly needed are they? What does that bring to the conversation.

Edit: atleast you comment was removed, try being a bit more civil next time

The disappointing sales numbers on this sequel could potentially make Square Enix hesitant on investing the same amount of resources on the next game.

Square Enix is not precisely the company that likes to take risks at all.

@Player_1_Ready If anything, the opposite is true. They take risks a bit too much sometimes.

My comment was removed I guess criticism is only OK when not directed at PushSquare themselves.

People are probably waiting for Part 3 to drop, that or the game will pick up sales later.

Ffs..... D I G I T A L... SALES this article is honestly trying to clickbait, digital sales have overtaken physical in the ps5 Gen.

@UltimateOtaku91

The article raises the major points I think: this is a sequel to a remake of a specific game. The audience is thus mostly going to be fans of the original game or fans who beat FFR7 (probably a lot of the same people).

The Ubisoftian formula probably is not a big plus to Japanese gamers, and that is the meat here: get the mount for each area, climb lookout towers to download locations of PoIs, clear out fiend packs, solve some puzzles.

I know some people who are seriously planning to wait until the entire FF7 has been remade before they try it.

@Keyblade-Dan FF7 Remake was not extremely divisive. There were some people who disagreed with the direction it went, but the discourse was never as toxic as say the discourse around The Last of Us Part II.

Context is key here. This is only physical sales and does not include digital which is far and away, in 2024, the far more common way games are bought.

people are really missing out this is probably the best open world FF game ive ever played and I played all of them in my 30 yrs of gaming they pulled off all the stops in this one very suprised and concerning the attitude of ppl ; one day it will be all gone and ppl will appreciate gems like this when its only games like COD, Fornite and Fifa seems those games sell in the millions no matter how bad they are its truly a tragedy

I'm sure digital is part of it, but I think the bigger problem for sales with this subseries has little do do with the quality of the game and more to do with the idiotic sales model and milking of the game, and that's entirely on Square management.

We're talking about a game announced to huge fanfare in 2015 at the start of the PS4 era, that then years later was announced it would be episodic. Then years later announced it would be a trilogy. Then years later part 1 finally released at the end of the gen. Then years later part 2 comes out mid-next-gen, with the final installment set to be probably maybe a year or two later unless it's many years later. Right now we have the middle of the story launching for more money than the beginning, with the conclusions still a year or more away. All to re-tell the story of a 25+ year old game that was sold as a single game, spread over 3 games and what looks like 11 or more years from announcement to completion and a total of $200 US purchase price if buying each entry at launch. You can get mint, collectable, vintage FFVII PS1 discs for $150. And it even includes the end of the story which is still a year or more away for the remake version.

Why is anyone, including Square Enix, questioning slow sales of the middle entry? Great series or not, Square jumped the shark protracting development out over a decade and splitting a single game into a trilogy with years between entries. This game was revealed the same day as XV which released 8 years ago.

It'll rebound when repackaged as a trilogy in a single package after the third one releases. I'm sure I'm not the only one that bought the first entry then decided to not even play it until the end is coming out, because what's the point of sitting on a cliffhanger if you've stopped caring about it by the time the continuation launches? I think splitting it into 2 was fine, but 3 leaves this middle entry in an awkward sales limbo between people that don't care anymore, and people that'll just wait until they can get the whole thing together and binge it. In the end, series sales will be fine, but this middle one was always kind of a poor business setup.

So far, I'm liking Rebirth a bit more than Remake. I was blown away by Remake initially. Midgar is one of my favourite segments in the original FF7 and the feel and aesthetic of the place is just perfect. I was amazed when seeing Midgar in modern graphics, but as the game went on, it all started to look and feel a bit samey and drab, especially the slums and reactor sections. It worked well in the original because you're only there for a few hours, but it felt spread thin in Remake. I still like the game, but it was a mixed bag in some ways. Wall Market and the Shinra Headquarters ended up being my favourite segments in Remake.

Rebirth is shaping up to feel a bit more refreshing, despite seemingly having the same issue of padding and bloat (and a couple of other issues I'm aware of) It's just nice to see a multitude of classic FF locations this time, and having that variety. The world looks truly beautiful.

@theSpectre I never said I was toxic I said it was really decisive which it was a lot of people did not care for what they did a lot of people love it again the VII community had very different reactions to what they're doing with the story which probably did contribute to Rebith's slightly lower sales

Different spin: It’s the second highest PS5 game launch ever in Japan, behind just FF16 😅

The underwhelming sales are not a result of PS5 exclusivity as some are claiming. These are purely Japanese physical sales and for first the first week only. Xbox is non-existent in Japan and releasing the game on it would have made no difference at all. The Switch is severely underpowered and cannot possibly run the game. Hell, even the PS5 can't run it at 1440p. The only other viable platform left is PC and the PC release is coming in just 3 months IIRC. PS5 exclusivity is a moot point when purely Japanese market is concerned. The actual reason lies elsewhere.

I expected this to happen years ago; that each successive part would sell less than the previous ones because people who did not like the previous one would not buy the next one. The developers first pissed off people by splitting the game into 3 parts releasing over 10 YEARS. Many swore off the game at that very moment. Then FF7 Remake arrived and pissed off a lot of the remaining fans with its alternate timelines, dimensions, whispers, darkness, padding, linearity, and generally Kingdom Hearts-style mumbo jumbo. Many older fans just wanted a graphical update, a refined turn-based battle system, and a more expanded richer world. Not all this alternate timelines clashing BS. No wonder the majority of FF7 Remake players didn't return. Now Square-Enix is left with only a small portion of the fanbase who are willing to wait 10 years for the complete story and like the alternate timeline and time travel nonsense.

@OneWingedAngel Only Xbox fanboys are trying to claim that the game is "underperforming" due to exclusivity. Like they would have bought the game anyway had it released on Xbox. Most likely, they would've complained the game isn't on Game Pass and not played it.

@Keyblade-Dan I mean, you said extremely divisive and when has that not meant toxic? But my point is, the game was not nearly as divisive as others.

The “Bow Wow” song remix alone should sell 10 million copies. ***** was so addictive that I made that poor doggie wait while I jammed out for a bit

@NEStalgia Spot on I would add the fact this isn't even a remake but a sequel to the classic as was promised when announced should be considered a false advertisement. Albeit the dev team did change in 2017 and production was restarted still the fans were left in the dark for years

@GuttyYZ you might be right about that, since people also got confused with the wii u being a new console instead of an addon.

However, the japanese are probably more used to weirdly naming their games.

Take a look at this thread for example and try to hold your laughter 😂:
https://www.reddit.com/r/gamingsuggestions/comments/70so2r/japanese_games_with_weird_english_titles/

Install base, but the whole multi part project thing would always end like this.
I also heard people who played it here say that it only cover the next 6 hours of FF7, which kind of hints this might end up as a 4 parter or 5.
Looking at such milking, people will be wary.

I also agree the naming might have been a bad idea. They should have named it ff7 Remake part 2.

Maybe I missed something but I heard these numbers reflected "Physical copies" sold and doesn't reflect Digital sales. From what I've heard this game is a much bigger hit than it appears.

@theSpectre PC day and date would have help and FF15 sold like a million on Xbox so yea those sales would have helped. Square needs every one.

Notice you see every sega game breaking records

@Sakai Same! Cheers!😀

Japan is in a recession so consumer spending has declined but they do make more money from sales abroad because of the weak yen at the moment so there's an upside I guess.

I’m one of those players who bought and finished Remake in 2020, but have had no desire to buy Rebirth. I’ve watched some gameplay on YouTube to see if it would convince me to jump back in but nothing is grabbing me. And my goodness, some of the writing and acting…I don’t remember Remake being so cringeworthy? It definitely seems like I’ve outgrown the series. That’s alright, plenty of other games to play…

As the years go on ignoring digital sales and comparing figures to games from several years ago is becoming more of a logical fallacy.

Digital continues to grow.

FF7 Rebirth has an amazing digital dual pack where you get FF7 Remake, Intermission DLC, and FF7 Rebirth all for the price of just buying Rebirth normally. The only reason someone would not get this version would be if they didn’t know about it, or are dedicated to buying physical games.

I'm baffled at the comments that FF16 is a better game. It was only a FF game in name nothing else and a 'decent' action game. Rebirth is outstanding, it's everything a Final Fantasy game should be. It's a shame it's not performing as well as it should

Yeah, digital sales will be heavier. Much heavier.

This game being two discs means digital may be perceived as the better experience

@Max_the_German
Yup. Was going to say the same. Even if you combine the PS5 numbers it doesn't reach the Switch OLED on its own. Can't be what Sony was hoping for when it gave SE a bunch of paper for the exclusivity deal.

I can’t speak for everyone. But I specifically bought the digital version because of the twin pack. Buying Rebirth and getting Remake for free was just too good of a deal.

But that pack is only interesting for people who didn’t have Remake or Intergrade before. But then again, there are PS5s that don’t have the disc drive…

I’m not sure how much digital will factor into this. So it will be very interesting to see how those numbers change the equation.

If it's number 1 in the charts, then isn't that what matters right now, or does it have to be close in sales as previous games for them to be happy?

I'd just be happy for being number 1 for the week or month.

@Sakai The irony is that they actually lost a lot of money with their multiplat titles (remember them complaining about their Western division) e.g. Deus Ex and Tomb Raider but mainly the expensive Marvel titles flopping during peak Avengers and GotG (movie) era.

The also wasted a lot of money on NFTs and Crypto, that's why the previous CEO got shafted.

Square's goal is to grow the brand recognition cause if we going to be honest they have lost touch with the younger gen. People need to understand the early 20/teens have 0 affiliation with FF7.
Nier Automata sold the same amount as the Remake

And regarding exclusivity: financially they are happy cause Sony funds the title (take the dev risk away) otherwise they wouldn't make these deals. The current CEO has said that they prefer investments like these in their studios.

@CrackmanNL thanks for the post, very informative about the subject at hand.

I thought Nier Automata was a great game.

@ValentinaMoore sorry I can't read your reply to me as it was removed by the mods for "flaming/argueing" I presume it was not very constructive and just insulting, so don't bother next time thank you.

Fresh air is great. Perhaps we should all walk outside together & experience it?
For some of you this is not an option: MOVE IT!!

From my understanding, this is only for physical sales of the game, not digital.
And drawing comparisons to Remake sales, yet contributing it’s sales due to the pandemic sounds like this article wasn’t well conceived.
Also the digital gaming spaces has increased in Japan in the last 4 years combined with rough economic times in the country currently.

@jt887 You mean the fanbase that paid $16 for a Game pass subscription in September to play Starfield, instead of buying the game outright? I've said it many times, Sony could announce Spider-Man for Xbox tomorrow and Xbox fanboys would whine if the game weren't coming to Game Pass. The first vs third party exclusive argument also falls apart because of Spider-Man. Insomniac is a first party developer and yet apparently that is still a problem. If it's such a problem that Insomniac and Spider-Man are first party, why isn't it also a problem that Bethesda and Starfield are first party for Xbox? Personally, I wouldn't care for a second if Final Fantasy VII Remake/Rebirth or Spider-Man go to Xbox or Nintendo. More people get to play the games that I love? Great. I'm sure some Sony fanboys' heads would explode just as Xbox fanboys' heads did when a game almost none of them played, Pentiment, was announced for PS4/5 and Switch.

I played FF7 remake on the ps4 and I was underwhelmed. The graphics were fine, it just for me the plot was tedious and uninteresting. I finished the game and wanted to get the platinum trophy but after 80 hours and I still had at least another 20 - 30 hours to get the platinum, I just gave up. I really wish there was a way to skip though dialogue cut scenes but only full cutscenes can be skipped.

@Sakai To be honest Forspoken was not really liked you could have made it multiplatform but it would not have made a big change.

With Final Fantasy I miss the colourful worlds and the diverse group of characters. I really liked the ratio of male and female characters.

The westernised thing with Final Fantasy they really believe it needs to be gritty and with buff dudes. As much as I love Final Fantasy they really need to learn it will never be a COD franchise it will always be for a certain group of people.

And yes i believe that scaling down and just remaking the original would have been so much cheaper and better and faster.

@C25CLOUD This.

Anecdotally, I don't know anyone who bought a physical copy of Rebirth among my circle of friends.

@puddinggirl I did not i stop buying physical discs bk in ps3 era

@Sakai You're jumping the gun. These are sales only for Japan. We still haven't seen other regions. Lol

@Flaming_Kaiser You miss the colorful worlds? Have you not seen FF7 Remake and Rebirth? FF16 was the one game that was gritty. I'm not sure why you're acting like it's been that way for years or something.

@TheCollector316
Apparently, that deal wasn't available in japan. It was an extra 5,000 yen for remake as well, which is almost the amount for remake : reddit user touhokujin

@Konks

• Its not a sequel. its not a new story, its the same story retold; padded out to three parts of one game. It is fair to assume some people are waiting until all 3 come out. While its also true that some people are buying them as they come out.
• This is SE cash cow installment of the entire FF franchise. This is the game that is very much beloved worldwide of all the entries into the series. Most FF7 fans would get a PS5 console to play it. Not having access to a ps5 now is a choice rather than "I can't get one". And, most would own a remake by now. So that covers the fans of the game.

In the same token, many fans were outraged by the reimagining of remake, and decided to forget about continuing the trilogy. Whats most concerning here is not that it didn't reach remake numbers (although that was during the pandemic, its still physically bought copies and not digital) but that it didn't even match ff16.

Therefore, Its safe to assume that it has not done that well with existing fans, and newer fans alike thus far.

@OneWingedAngel
Absolutely spot on. Thats the category I'm in. I bought a ps5 for remake on its release, played it and it turned me off the entire trilogy. Id rather play the OG ff7 than the time travel dimension crap in it now.

PS4 still out-gunning the Series X and S - that's gotta hurt.

In my case it's a matter of backlog and family. I just picked up on 16 and expect my BG3 Deluxe Edition very soon. Having played Remake and the original, this didn't struck me as a day one tbh

I'm surprised, but guessing there will ne alot more digital sales. As for the game, I felt the shere number of awful, tedious side quests and a whole chapter dedicated to a card game dragged it down feom the masterpiece it could have been, like it's prequel was

@Lmaooo Your comments are conflicting. First, you say it's the same story retold, but then you say you think the game is garbage because of the time traveling element, meaning it's not really the same story retold.

"Id rather play the OG ff7 than the time travel dimension crap in it now".

This is what I said.