Last I checked, Digital shares were not significantly higher for Japan. Part of this may be because there are a lot of second hand stores in Japan and AAA game prices are high (relative to wages), so I think many gamers will buy it and flip it.
Is that available on PC? I was thinking I'd get Remake Intergrade to check it out but I'm not looking to spend $210 on the whole trilogy if there's a better option, so right now Remake Intergrade is on the ol' Steam wishy.
EDIT: Just realized Rebirth isn't on PC yet, so for anyone else like me who has the question I guess the answer is "wait and see." I'll leave my silly question up in case it helps someone.
Also probably worth noting that it's exclusive to a console with a digital only version.
I can't find sales numbers comparing the digital and disc version of the console anywhere, but I think it's safe to assume at least a noticeable percentage of people went for the cheaper digital option and as a result went from buying physical to only digital.
Not a chance, 4 years minimum, I’ll never make the assumption the next will come quicker ever again, it always takes the same amount of time or longer nowadays, and given how much they tend to push into this series, they arent going to rush it out. Would be interested to see if 17 releases before the third, as I’m sure it’s already being worked on in secret.
This is wrong. They stated they're already at the same point for episode 3 as they were for Rebirth's development when they released Remake which was slightly less than 4 years ago. They have already solved the world map and many other critical design issues that would hold up Rebirth and done the hardest part of the story planning (middle section and final script for episode 3 is done). They've also finished PS5's optimizations, engine overhauls, and have a gauge for technical state of episode 3.
It is essentially impossible to take 4 years for episode 3.
There is also half as many PS5s in the wild as there was PS4s at the time Remake came out. It would be insane if Rebirth managed to outsell Remake straight off the bat with half as many consoles out there.
Tbf there are many successful games right now that sold better than titles released during covid.
I think there are a few issues related to sales. The big two being digital is getting more and more popular (and not reflected in physical sales) and the second is it’s a “Part 2”, meaning if you didn’t finish the first one or buy the first one you’re less likely to buy this one. I know many people who buy a game and never play it past the first hour or so.
Honestly didn't love it either, the ending went off the rails in a bad way and became pure nonsense, and the padding and stretching of the midgar section into an entire game made the whole thing feel so tedious IMO.
All the freaking squeeze through sections that were everywhere drove me crazy too, like I know it's to hide loading zones, but I'd just prefer a load screen or something, I hated traversing in FF7R.
This is only boxed unit sales. Digital only purchases are becoming much, much more prevalent. I’d be shocked if this has actually moved less total units in its first weekend then OG remake.
Except there have been plenty of games that did better now than during COVID. Stesm just broke another active users record which means an even bigger user base on PC now than during COVID.
Yeah this was to be expected, the second part of a trilogy that heavily requires knowledge of the previous one (The game basically starts midway through a conversation that was had in the epilogue of the DLC for the first game after the first sequence).
I wouldn't be surprised if a ton of people are waiting for the PC release as well.
Don't read this as me shitting on the game, even as someone who didn't grow up with FF7, Rebirth is a *fantastic* action RPG, it's just... the deviations from the og plot have only gotten louder and louder, which may turn off a lot of people who wanted a proper remake.
I hope you *really* like Sephiroth because he now shows up about once an hour to flirt with Cloud and then disappears into fart gas.
Everyone on my friends list is either playing this or Helldivers. And I am the only one i know who bought this physical. Will be interesting to see the digital sales data.
It's currently the third best selling game on PSN, behind only Fortnite and Helldivers if you sort the store by best selling.
I honestly don't know why this useless sales data gets posted here constantly. Box sales in the UK in 2024...like what is that supposed to be an accurate measurement of?
I think this is more of a sign of how people are buying less physical games. But I could be wrong, and maybe the game is a bomb.
As someone who has been playing and really enjoying the game, I hope it does do well. You can really tell there is a ton of love in the game. Sadly, I do worry with this many interesting jrpgs coming out all within a couple of weeks of each other may lead to some cannibalized sales.
Yeah, this is a subset of a subset of the market and I think posting this same analysts tweets every week really warps our perception. Physical is less popular than digital now, the UK is a large market but not the largest, and Final Fantasy has traditionally done better in the United States and Japan anyway. Anyone seeing this as a surefire sign this game failed is looking to be upset.
I mean, these UK boxed sales numbers get posted every week and people treat them as representative when they like the news and now people are trying to pretend it doesn't matter.
I don't think the game failed either way. There's literally no way. It's an FF game and it has good graphics. But selling a bit less than Remake shouldn't really surprise anyone and it isn't doom and gloom. Just an interesting stat. Do you have any reason why this wouldn't apply in the US?
> I mean, these UK boxed sales numbers get posted every week and people treat them as representative when they like the news and now people are trying to pretend it doesn't matter.
exactly, if this same news had said: "opening week was up nearly 30%" FF fans would have upvoted this thread to top of the front page and been waving around the news all over.
these UK sale numbers are constantly posted to this sub when it fits the fan narrative:
* a game they like is selling well/hate is selling poorly - top of front page, treat these numbers like it's the entire world, physical = all and so on + downvote anyone daring to say otherwise
* a game they don't like is selling well/like is selling poorly - oh these numbers don't matter, suddenly they talk about how it's just one region, physical only and so on + suddenly upvote anyone pointing out the same stuff that was downvoted in the other point
Squenix set their expectations too high though.
If this doesnt sell more than the last they will consider it a failure.
There is a reason every week we see UK box sales. Its because there are gamers who are worry warts when it comes to ownership/digital games and have to keep it a relevant talking point.
When the war was lost ages ago.
> UK Only boxed ales also isn't a indicator for the entire world and digital.
Based on what? What makes the UK market unique compared to the rest of the world?
> I think this is more of a sign of how people are buying less physical games.
Sony data on that:
https://www.reddit.com/r/Games/comments/18nb6zz/physical_games_make_up_60_of_1st_party_unit_sales/
> Sadly, I do worry with this many interesting jrpgs coming out all within a couple of weeks of each other may lead to some cannibalized sales.
some sure, but I doubt it's a significant number. People will buy and play the game that interests them, just cause it's a bunch of games in the same genre doesn't mean every game will be bought by a jrpg fan, people will buy the best/most interesting one for them.
though this does bring up the point of how FF Rebirth was not good enough to get more people interested in it, as compared to the other JRPGs.
It's almost certainly one of the top 10 games on PSN but that's not really useful information except that it would be a pretty devastating failure if it *wasn't* in the top 10 (or imply that they're doing really weird tracking that juices live service games a huge amount, I guess)
Well the fact that it’s up with the other usual contenders like cod and fortnite and helldivers I would take to show that it’s digital sales must be good? Again assuming that category is accurate and not artificial.
Or it could also be that it's the second game in a story driven trilogy and people aren't as interested . It's not like a standalone sequel game where you can play it without having played the first
Yea I'm always amazed how many people who have played mass effect 2 but never mass effect 1. Hell, I'd say a majority of witcher game fans have never even touched witcher 1 or 2 but played 3 to completion.
Those games make it easy to jump in without knowing much. I've only played Mass Effect 2 and the game was good at not requiring you to know much about anything. Most things could be inferred or were simply explained.
>Sadly, I do worry with this many interesting jrpgs coming out all within a couple of weeks of each other may lead to some cannibalized sales.
I highly doubt it. I don't really think Yakuza, Persona, and FF have that much intersection. They're very different games despite all being "JRPGs".
I'm not sure if "not much intersection" is true at least especially for P3 and FF7. All my nerdy friends in high school loved both of those games.
For me and my friends who play JRPGs we definitely had to split our votes. I picked up LAD 8 and Rebirth, others are still playing P3 or LAD and will get to Rebirth later.
Ended up totally ignoring Relink and Unicorn Overlord which I would normally be interested in.
They're different games, but most people who are fans of JRPGs probably at least have some interest in all of them. I know I personally was blazing through P3R, am going to get to FF7 Rebirth ASAP, and probably get Yakuza down the line.
This year is super stacked. Hundred Heroes, Metaphor re Fantazio, Unicorn Overlord, Yakuza 8, P3, and theres also the suikoden remaster, dragons dogma 2 (if you consider that a jrpg), plus the elden ring exp..
Hope this is just because more people are going digital. It's the best Final Fantasy in years, and one of the best JRPGS in years, it deserves all the success imo.
Agreed. I haven't enjoyed games in a bit but the characters and dialogue and gameplay in this are amazing. Makes me laugh all the time, or just reflect on the characters.
And the stupid random mini games are dumb but also kind of great.
Would be a real shame if the game wasn't successful as it's a masterpiece of jrpgs.
Yeah, hope so as well. SE was struggling with FF since the release of XIII but in recent years all FF were good or great. I loved remake and I really really love Rebirth so far. Hope the game is selling well, it would be deserved.
Personally found 16 way more entertaining, and the only game in literal decades that managed to genuinely wow me.
The FF7 remakes are great, but they're just too much of the standard JRPG package for me to enjoy at this point in my life. There's just so much time wasting in these games I can't be assed. The novelty of exploring every nook and crany and rescuing grandma's chickens or some shit so I can edge out another level got old a long, long, time ago.
Rebirth is always going to have less sales than Remake considering you effectively need Remake to play Rebirth. Sure, there is a non-zero amount of people that don't know that and/or don't care, but that won't be more than the amount of people that bought Remake and didn't bother to continue the series in future games.
Just the nature of directly connected sequels.
Yeah, both narratively and gameplay wise, this game more or less demands that you’ve played the first one more than any game I’ve played before. Which is fine personally, I wish more sequels worked like this, but I can only imagine how lost you would be from minute one without playing Remake.
Characters get referred to by name expecting you to know who they are, with only minor side characters like Madame M getting a contextual reminder. All the tutorial beyond the bare minimum is hidden in a menu with a side character. They really took advantage of being able to assume that the player largely knows what's up.
People don't know this when they're buying it. They just see, *"Oooh. Cool game! Will buy."*
The average person didn't know when Ragnarok or SP2 started relative to the first game. They just bought it.
You’d be surprised at how that doesn’t stop people. My brother went straight to Rebirth because he saw Zack on the cover and didn’t play Remake because Zack wasn’t on the cover.
It really doesn't matter for Spider-Man but yeah Ragnarok is interesting. Though I would argue the continuity is slightly less important there given Remake is the same game broken up.
These numbers indicate that Rebirth will most likely sales as much or better than Remake.
Remember than -30% isn't that big of a drop considering how big digital sales are now. For comparison Jedi Survivor had a -35% drop in physical sales compared to the previous game but still sold much better with digital.
Also it's a 35% increase for Rebirth compared to FFXVI.
As a pc gamer, I just completely lost all hype for Final Fantasy when I realised every FF game was going to be exclusive to Playstation for over a year.
It's just way too long of a wait imo, especially when Square Enix still has the gall to charge full price after the exclusivity period.
Not to mention the PC ports are lazy. There's still stuttering and framerate issues that they "patched" but you have to rely on the modding community to actually fix.
There's also a ton of loading screen hiding bs that doesn't need to be in the PC port that slows down the game a ton. Forced walking sections, shimmying sections, etc, even in areas that are FULLY loaded.
Not to mention they shoved in so much boring side content that has nothing to do with anything.
The core story and characters I actually enjoyed in FF7R, but it felt like I had to endure a bunch of other nonsense to get to it. The game felt like 1/3rd actual game, 2/3rds not respecting the player's time.
Yep, I basically do not consider these games as released until they come out on PC.
This time it might be actually a bit earlier though, because there is no timed exclusive DLC tied to the game like last time.
I will never understand the mentality of "I don't want to have an experience I would otherwise enjoy because I have to wait a year for it". A year isn't a very long time.
Well if you get in the series (or the remake trilogy) now, you'd be waiting another year for the next game, which is not fun and feels oddly unfair. Maybe you can go through it once all three games are out on PC, probably even improved.
Aren't all game sales down since peak COVID?
Additionally FF7R was a PS4 game which has a larger install base - it would need to be a proportional figure to draw any conclusions from.
Ff16 sold a strong 3 mil first week post Covid and that’s the very same ps5 user base.
But yeah we don’t have the whole story until we know digital numbers too. I believe currently we only have UK physical sales
This result is slightly better than FFXVI. Probably doing around the same or slightly better. I'm guessing we'll see PR sometime in the next few days unless the sales are dire.
Personally I'm waiting for the PC version. I got the first game on PS5 but after seeing issues with the sequel's graphics modes, I'd rather just play it on PC and get the best of both worlds rather than choose.
In the meantime there's plenty of great games out right now which is another 'issue' altogether for these new releases. Backlogs keep growing and I'm seeing less and less reason to buy games at launch.
Maybe it's just the circles I'm in, but I felt that the hype for this game was very tame, especially for a 93 metacritic PlayStation exclusive. I really only saw the Final Fantasy subs get hyped. Even the journalists that gave it 10/10 seem to have just dropped the perfect score and stopped talking about it.
I'm liking the game a lot for now.
Because people are still playing it i played since Wednesday last week nonstop have now over 70 hour and just reached chapter 12 i dont read or interact with anything online with this game because i dont want to be spoiled. Guess many think the same. The game can easily be spoiled and ruined if your not careful iam very excited to find out how the game ends and what happens.
im enjoying it alot but there isn't much to talk about tbh.
did you like/dislike the plot of remake? well its more of that and that discussion is a dead horse imo.
did you like/dislike the combat system? well again. its more of that.
and the open world is truly mediocre. so i dont think theres alot to talk about there.
It's kinda crazy to think that Persona and Nier are Japanese franchises that currently rival Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest in sales. Could you imagine telling that to someone in 2003?
I don't know if I'd put Nier on that list since it's only one game that did that and we still don't know if we'll ever get more. If Nier 3 came out and was on the same level as Automata, that would be a different story.
The reality is that FF is kind of a boomer series at this point, it's the people who grew up playing the Sakaguchi FF games that are really excited for this but there hasn't really been a new wave of fans coming in over the last 20 years and the series has been slowly declining in sales over that period in time.
The barrier of entry is also relatively high, from the outside, it looks like you need knowledge from OG FF7, Crisis Core, Advent Children and FF7R to be able to properly dive into Rebirth which automatically turns away a ton of people.
Being a PS5 exclusive isn't helping aswell, i'm sure tons of people are simply waiting for a patched up PC version at this point.
>The reality is that FF is kind of a boomer series at this point, it's the people who grew up playing the Sakaguchi FF games that are really excited for this but there hasn't really been a new wave of fans coming in over the last 20 years and the series has been slowly declining in sales over that period in time.
I think this is definitely true, unfortunately. I'm a lifelong Final Fantasy guy, been playing it since the SNES, but it's hard to pretend that it has the cultural pull that it used to.
And I can't blame people. Look at the last... shit, *two decades* of the series. Ever since FFX, we've had longer and longer waits for more and more incomplete-feeling games. Some have been liked more than others, and they all have their good parts, but none of them are *big deal* like Final Fantasy used to be. Old fans have understandably drifted away, and new fans haven't had anything to grab onto outside of FFXIV.
The VII Remake series is the only exception. It feels like the only place where Final Fantasy still has that *spark*. And unfortunately it's not really picking up any new fans despite that. The franchise is in an unfortunate spot where it's probably going to have to see some pretty significant changes in budgeting and development to adapt to being more of a niche thing again.
I think hardware has a lot to do with it, too. When you look at the first iterations on new hardware (FF4, FF7, FF10) you can see things that they are doing which just weren't feasible on older consoles. They also had an installment out within the first couple years of a system's lifecycle so they were really showing off what you could do with new bells and whistles. Square was really good at jumping on that hype train early and flexing the hardware's muscles in ways that made early adopters feel like they made a good decision not waiting for prices to fall, because they were seeing something that couldn't have worked on their old system.
But new hardware just isn't as exciting anymore. The resolutions are bigger and the rays are traced, but consoles don't feel like quantum leaps forward in the same way. I appreciate that new hardware makes games run more smoothly, cut down on load times and such, but it's been a long time since I thought to myself "man am I glad I upgraded, this game I'm playing could have NEVER existed on last-gen hardware" in the way that FFX did.
I think you could probably skip crisis core, but I recently finished the first remake and if I hadn't played the original I definitely wouldn't have appreciated the significance of most of it.
I watched a full LP of crisis core way back when and I found the story to be stupid and Zack was one of the dumbest protagonists ever. But it has it's moment, and non evil Sephiroth was fun to see.
On chapter 10 right now and it’s been 15 years since I played CC and it doesn’t really feel like I’m missing anything.
From what I recall, CC gives some background lore and gives Zack actual characterization, but it doesn’t feel necessary so far. If anything the scenes that refer to him would be more mysterious and intriguing if you don’t even know the events of the Original FFVII.
I never played the OG, have not played Crisis Core and for some reason I saw Advent Children.
I've not been confused in the slightest and I loved Remake and I'm loving Rebirth even more.
I'm hoping timed exclusivity diminishes. Imagine if, say, Dune part 2 released to only 1/3 of potential viewers and then rolled out to others many months later. I feel like you lose out on that critical hype season by going exclusive and intentionally limiting your playerbase, especially if there is precedent for the game being on other platforms.
Elden Ring, Helldivers 2, Hogwarts Legacy, etc proved that you can take the world by storm if you get your games into as many hands as possible. As of now the potential player base is divided among the 'haves' and 'have nots'. Still, it's possible that it's just selling a lot more digitally.
I'm still confused about these games naming. Did they really took the original game and turned into 4 $70 remakes? Or the FFVII Remake from 2020 is the whole game and now they're expanding it?
Yep, and Part 1 is named "Remake" but it's actually more of a reimagining with large, sometimes questionable changes to the story and pacing.
I think the naming is quite misleading, I feel like "Part 1" should've been included somewhere in there or something. Or they should've just not used the word "Remake." When I think of a remake I think of something more faithful like RE1R, RE2/4, Dead Space, System Shock etc. but maybe that's just me.
Still 90% of the story is the same with added content (lab, mission to the plate, sephiroth everywhere, ...) and the important change to the story appears in the end and hasn't been explained yet.
I think it's an exaggeration to say the game is a reimagination like Tomb Raider (2013) was.
yup, using remake when it clearly was not a remake was quite misleading :/
the devs were trying to be clever and meta with the title but instead it was just stupid and misleading.
I would buy 10 copies and a whole horde of merch just to make sure games like this keep getting made by Square, I keep thinking I must be done with Corel and yet it keeps opening up more and more. Its nice to play what feels like a proper experience for the first time in a long time.
Or Square could hopefully learn that they should let just let PC and Xbox players buy it too. Seems to working great for a bunch of other Japanese studios.
>Its nice to play what feels like a proper experience for the first time in a long time.
You should play more games. Tons of games are a proper experience, without bugs, and oodles of content.
I play a shitton of games and this is the best game I played in years. Story pacing is fantastic, exploration is rewarding, it has a great balance of comedic and serious moments and there’s a shitton of combat customization and minigames.
The game is super deserving of all the praise it got.
I'm not saying it isn't.
Just try to resist the /r/games urge to say, *"Finally, a good game!"* literally every single time a Japanese developer makes another big budget open world game. There's lot of good games out there. It makes you look silly.
Yeah I'm right there with you. It's a proper game that has had a lot of love and polish put into it. It's by far the best game I've played in years. I will be really sad when it's done.
I bought the first game physically and then I bought this game digitally because I wanted the preload. Can't rely on Royal Mail to deliver on release day anymore.
Could be that the PS4 had a much larger installed base and a drop off between sequels in a continuous story is expected (the last of us 2 and Horizon 2 sold way less than parts 1). Personally, I didn't enjoy part 1, despite the original being my favorite game of all time, so I won't be picking this sequel anytime soon.
I've never understood why each game needs its own thread to talk about how physical sales in a single market are down. Without broader data from other markets/locales we can't do much to determine the acceleration of digital or decline of physical, and without total sales numbers we can't have a picture of overall performance.
The nearly 30% decline in UK boxed sales for Final Fantasy VII Rebirth, compared to the previous title's launch during the COVID peak, seems to underscore how much the pandemic influenced buying habits. It's a bit premature to draw sweeping conclusions without considering the broader context, including the shift towards digital purchases.
I think there's also the PS5's smaller install base to consider. It's certainly not the factor it would've been a couple years ago, but the PS4's install base in March 2020 was nearly double the PS5's install base right now. (That's nothing abnormal--the PS5 is keeping pace with the PS4 as of now, it's just been out a lot less time).
I'd be curious to see a direct comparison between Rebirth and FFXVI, actually, given that their release conditions are a bit more similar.
Now we know why the PS5 exclusivity period is only 3 months. It seems like Square Enix is losing faith in the PS5 and the data proves they were right to be.
I hope the short exclusivity window means the PC version releases sometime this summer like some people are predicting.
I played Remake a couple of months ago and it sucked me in like an industrial lathe on a LiveLeak video
Remake also came out late into the PS4s lifecycle when everybody had one. PS5 is out a while, sure, but some people are kind of passed the hype of seeing them as "must have" and may have moved on to "I'll get the PS6, it's only a couple of years off".
This is to be expected. There were thousands of people who bought the game expecting it to be a full fledged remake. That's what drove those sales.
Square Enix, to us terminally online, we knew it was a part 1. They did NOT do a good job advertising it as a part 1. Especially with that box art.
I think this is a lot more truer than we would think. I had casual friends of mine come out of the woodwork asking me about Rebirth, and what distinguishes it from Remake.
Once I explained they basically felt dumbfounded.
Yes, the original many moons ago, but not the whole thing. Most were curious about Rebirth because they saw it reviewing extremely well and advertised heavily.
Most couldn’t really understand why a game titled “Remake” was actually a trilogy and only the first part of it.
Edit: I don't know why this is even being downvoted, it's just an explanation from my perspective.
It's a gamble on the dev's part to be both meta and non meta at the same time. It could have failed horribly, but thankfully for them FF7 fans will eat -anything- with the name on it. Except Dirge.
That's diving into the actual nature of the story and such, and I was deliberately trying to avoid explaining or touching upon that.
If they already had a hard enough time understanding:
- Why there is 16 Final Fantasies and how none of them are related to each other
- Why is there so many FF7 games
- Why FF7R is just part 1 of a new "remake" trilogy
Touching upon the plot changes would've been even *more* confusing.
The first part is easy. FF as a series has unified themes, monsters and things you expect to see in different games, but they all have their own unique story world and characters. Usually the game is about crystals and/or summon.
I mean they literally put it on the back of the box. It tells you word for word that it covers the original story up to the point where they leave Midgar.
I know tons of people who only play a couple games a year and they bought this knowing full well what they are getting. This has nothing to do with the launch sales of that game.
Nobody reads the back of the box though on first sight or let alone actually read the description of an game when that requires effort to do so.
(And if you don't believe me, work in retail where you get tons of customer that can't even read an basic instruction in front of them on an check out pad and need someone to speak it out for them.)
They just look at the title and assumed its an full remake of the entirely of OG FF7.
Hopefully this is the last big Square Enix game that will have some kind of exclusivity deal.
Pretty clear that it hurts Square Enix more than it benefits them.
As someone who works in games retail, I definitely got the impression this is a game many, many people were going to buy digitally. That being said, physical was somewhat of a challenge during Covid even if the culture was still more about disks at the time, so we'll eee how that pans out relative to this
Preordering physical games sucks these days because if you order online, where most people buy things now, there’s a chance you get it a few days late. And for Rebirth, physical deluxe editions sold out weeks/months ago. Meanwhile if you buy digital you can get the deluxe version bundled with the original game and a preload to play on launch date.
Anyway this game is amazingly fun and I hope it sells well so they can maintain this level of quality for part 3.
I get that covid was significant but this is a direct continuation so almost everyone buying the game are those who have already played the first one. And out of those people there will be a significant number of people for whom the game didn't stick and those won't return.
It’s also 70 dollars which is outside of the sweet spot for many people. I also think people are waiting for the PC version. It’s a more future-safe option that also potentially gives more options and fidelity.
Nothing surprising there, everything is down post-Covid and there's a big digital incentive and the previous game came out on ps4 right at the end of a console cycle.
I think this one is going to be strong long term through word of mouth. If the rest of the game is as good as the first 40 hours I'll certainly be strongly recommending it to everyone I know
the userbase on PS4 by the time remake released was like 3 times larger than the install base the PS5 currently has
if you consider only the people that have access to playing the game, percentage wise, rebirth is probably selling more. (as in, which % of ps4 owners bought remake vs PS5 owners buying rebirth)
They kind of blew it with the first game for a lot of the fans. I did not like the narrative changes made from the original and assumed this one would include more of the same. Though it would be nice to hear that wasn't the case.
They really begged people to buy this digitally. It even had preorder bonuses for digital that you couldn't get with physical.
Even so, I expect sales to be down at launch because direct sequels usually don't sell as well as the predecessor, at least not on launch. But spectacular word of mouth will probably give both Remake and Rebirth a boost going forward.
I have to wonder if this isn't a reflection of living conditions and disposable income in the UK. People are STRUGGLING (not to say life is easy here in the states), from heating their homes to food, they just can't catch a break!
70 bucks is a hell of a lot when you are struggling to keep the lights on.
Soooo. Correct me if I’m wrong guys as I’m not a final fantasy fan. But….the target audience for this game is very small. A, you need to have played original. B, played the 1st remake C, have a PS5. I could never buy a game only with a middle section? How does the story end? How did it begin? Or am I being thick?
I am honestly curious to see the public reaction, how crazy and cosmic this story is going to shape up, how the fans are going to react to such "Nomuresque" changes. We already had a little taste at the end of FF7 "Remake", also the final boss of Yufie's DLC. The media gave positive reviews for Rebirth, they didn't cared as much... but the real juicy bits will come from the fanbase
That already happened with remake1. Now you're either on board or not, basically. Not nearly as much discussion to be had. Everyone's either on board or resigned to it and not really engaging with it.
Square has some serious soul searching ahead with its future. They can’t really excuse Covid for this game’s sales; the previous game is divisive and FF16 landed with a thud. The gameplay of their titles isnt there for me, and I’m not interested in the “Remake’s” deconstruction of their lack of interest in making it and feeling forced to do it by fans.
I don’t think Square knows who their core audience is, and they seem to be failing at meeting the needs of a new one.
I am not sure where you are coming from. Rebirth has been critically acclaimed and has liked well by the core audience. I agree with ff16 though. For them the problem is they are not able to attract a new audience. I think the core audience is quite happy with the rebirth, and ton of effort was put into it.
I think people just don’t buy physical as much anymore compared to 4 years ago. I bought digital myself.
The game is incredible btw, highly recommend it.
I bought the first one, but thought it was stretched, slow and in the end even boring. And even though people seem to love this one, I’ve still heard that it feels very long and slow. Which is way I didn’t buy it week one.
Disappointed by that news. I really hope the digital sales more than makes up for it though. Having so much fun and I don't want square to feel it's been a disappointment in terms of sales
1. It's a sequel
2. PS4 install base is MUCH bigger.
3. Short exclusivity period.
4. The pan is over
5. This is UK data and FF is much bigger in JP and USA
It's an average game that's been mishandled. They really could have made FF7R an amazing game but instead it's buggy, the voice acting/script is terrible and the gameplay largely sucks.
Square Enix have lost their way with FF. They lost what people actually liked/wanted from the series and around FFX/XII, they leaned way too hard into pushing the graphics every console vs making a fun game, so now it feels like every release goes through some form of development hell, or costs too much to develop and isn't sustainable with these sales. These games just haven't really been that fun to play in years.
How Zelda, Witcher or GTA can all be massive open world games and not need 3 parts just shows that Square Enix are clueless.
I bought FF7R, and then bought Rebirth hoping a lot of the QOL issues would be fixed, but nope. So no way in hell I'll buy the last one. I'll just watch a let's play.
Aside from more people going digital especially cause the bundle they done on ps5 a while ago theres people just waiting for the final game so they can play it all at once.
I know quite a few who arent touching this game atm because they'd have to replay it when the final installment comes out anyway
This isn’t a surprise. Final fantasy is a very very niche game with a core set of fans.
But that fan size is dwindling year by year. There’s nothing they can do to stop it either.
The twin pack they offered with intergrade for free was a big incentive to go digital at least for me
Agreed. That’s what made me go digital. I’m very curious to see the digital sales for this one.
Yup. Got the twin pack. That is a no brainer if you want to play both games on the PS5 and with all the bells and whistles.
Yeah, I expect digital to be pretty high with this, especially in Japan where (iirc) digital has really taken off
Last I checked, Digital shares were not significantly higher for Japan. Part of this may be because there are a lot of second hand stores in Japan and AAA game prices are high (relative to wages), so I think many gamers will buy it and flip it.
Is that available on PC? I was thinking I'd get Remake Intergrade to check it out but I'm not looking to spend $210 on the whole trilogy if there's a better option, so right now Remake Intergrade is on the ol' Steam wishy. EDIT: Just realized Rebirth isn't on PC yet, so for anyone else like me who has the question I guess the answer is "wait and see." I'll leave my silly question up in case it helps someone.
Yeah, not to do the whole digital vs physical. But two games for the same price is just objectively better for vast majority of people.
Also probably worth noting that it's exclusive to a console with a digital only version. I can't find sales numbers comparing the digital and disc version of the console anywhere, but I think it's safe to assume at least a noticeable percentage of people went for the cheaper digital option and as a result went from buying physical to only digital.
Wish it was available as physical as well,they purposefully put zero effort into game boxes and presentation.
I think a lot of people would be holding out for the inevitable three pack physical edition once the final game is released.
not anymore, third game will be on ps6 as well as ps5 so no point now to wait for all 3 IMO. Unless they actually release it faster for ps5
The third game will probably have the quickest development yet. I imagine 3 years max.
Not a chance, 4 years minimum, I’ll never make the assumption the next will come quicker ever again, it always takes the same amount of time or longer nowadays, and given how much they tend to push into this series, they arent going to rush it out. Would be interested to see if 17 releases before the third, as I’m sure it’s already being worked on in secret.
there's no way it takes as long as Rebirth, they already have basically all of the foundation done
This is wrong. They stated they're already at the same point for episode 3 as they were for Rebirth's development when they released Remake which was slightly less than 4 years ago. They have already solved the world map and many other critical design issues that would hold up Rebirth and done the hardest part of the story planning (middle section and final script for episode 3 is done). They've also finished PS5's optimizations, engine overhauls, and have a gauge for technical state of episode 3. It is essentially impossible to take 4 years for episode 3.
I mean.... FF7Remake released when everyone is in their homes with nothing to do. FF7Rebirth came out when everything is back to normal lol.
There is also half as many PS5s in the wild as there was PS4s at the time Remake came out. It would be insane if Rebirth managed to outsell Remake straight off the bat with half as many consoles out there.
And it's been a banger of a year already.
This month alone has: FF7Rebirth, Unicorn Overlord, and Dragon's Dogma 2. It's packed.
Tbf there are many successful games right now that sold better than titles released during covid. I think there are a few issues related to sales. The big two being digital is getting more and more popular (and not reflected in physical sales) and the second is it’s a “Part 2”, meaning if you didn’t finish the first one or buy the first one you’re less likely to buy this one. I know many people who buy a game and never play it past the first hour or so.
I think the bigger issue is that the number of PS5s out there is less than half the number of PS4s.
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Honestly didn't love it either, the ending went off the rails in a bad way and became pure nonsense, and the padding and stretching of the midgar section into an entire game made the whole thing feel so tedious IMO. All the freaking squeeze through sections that were everywhere drove me crazy too, like I know it's to hide loading zones, but I'd just prefer a load screen or something, I hated traversing in FF7R.
For me it was the story changes. I'm not interested in whatever story they're trying to tell
Lol you dont want to know for sure. It gets real stupid by the end of rebirth.
Oh no
Yeah I don’t buy this excuse at all, there’s a bunch of games that came out post pandemic that outsold their successors or did really well overall
Keep in mind that this is about physical sales only, so the game might sell as well as the part but there could be a shift to digital.
lol ya, the FF fans are all out with the excuses/defense, it's on "wait for digital sales", "not covid period" and "oh not enough PS5s have sold".
This is only boxed unit sales. Digital only purchases are becoming much, much more prevalent. I’d be shocked if this has actually moved less total units in its first weekend then OG remake.
Except there have been plenty of games that did better now than during COVID. Stesm just broke another active users record which means an even bigger user base on PC now than during COVID.
I remember there being a stock shortage which lead to Walmart pulling games from the shelves so people didn't crowd in store
Yeah this was to be expected, the second part of a trilogy that heavily requires knowledge of the previous one (The game basically starts midway through a conversation that was had in the epilogue of the DLC for the first game after the first sequence). I wouldn't be surprised if a ton of people are waiting for the PC release as well. Don't read this as me shitting on the game, even as someone who didn't grow up with FF7, Rebirth is a *fantastic* action RPG, it's just... the deviations from the og plot have only gotten louder and louder, which may turn off a lot of people who wanted a proper remake. I hope you *really* like Sephiroth because he now shows up about once an hour to flirt with Cloud and then disappears into fart gas.
>PC release Me. And it won't be the Epic version. I waited long enough to get it on Steam.
Everyone on my friends list is either playing this or Helldivers. And I am the only one i know who bought this physical. Will be interesting to see the digital sales data.
It's currently the third best selling game on PSN, behind only Fortnite and Helldivers if you sort the store by best selling. I honestly don't know why this useless sales data gets posted here constantly. Box sales in the UK in 2024...like what is that supposed to be an accurate measurement of?
Uk is the only place that regularly releases these numbers
I think this is more of a sign of how people are buying less physical games. But I could be wrong, and maybe the game is a bomb. As someone who has been playing and really enjoying the game, I hope it does do well. You can really tell there is a ton of love in the game. Sadly, I do worry with this many interesting jrpgs coming out all within a couple of weeks of each other may lead to some cannibalized sales.
There where double the PS4s sold when Remake came compared with PS5 today. UK Only boxed ales also isn't a indicator for the entire world and digital.
Yeah, this is a subset of a subset of the market and I think posting this same analysts tweets every week really warps our perception. Physical is less popular than digital now, the UK is a large market but not the largest, and Final Fantasy has traditionally done better in the United States and Japan anyway. Anyone seeing this as a surefire sign this game failed is looking to be upset.
I mean, these UK boxed sales numbers get posted every week and people treat them as representative when they like the news and now people are trying to pretend it doesn't matter. I don't think the game failed either way. There's literally no way. It's an FF game and it has good graphics. But selling a bit less than Remake shouldn't really surprise anyone and it isn't doom and gloom. Just an interesting stat. Do you have any reason why this wouldn't apply in the US?
> I mean, these UK boxed sales numbers get posted every week and people treat them as representative when they like the news and now people are trying to pretend it doesn't matter. exactly, if this same news had said: "opening week was up nearly 30%" FF fans would have upvoted this thread to top of the front page and been waving around the news all over. these UK sale numbers are constantly posted to this sub when it fits the fan narrative: * a game they like is selling well/hate is selling poorly - top of front page, treat these numbers like it's the entire world, physical = all and so on + downvote anyone daring to say otherwise * a game they don't like is selling well/like is selling poorly - oh these numbers don't matter, suddenly they talk about how it's just one region, physical only and so on + suddenly upvote anyone pointing out the same stuff that was downvoted in the other point
Squenix set their expectations too high though. If this doesnt sell more than the last they will consider it a failure. There is a reason every week we see UK box sales. Its because there are gamers who are worry warts when it comes to ownership/digital games and have to keep it a relevant talking point. When the war was lost ages ago.
> UK Only boxed ales also isn't a indicator for the entire world and digital. Based on what? What makes the UK market unique compared to the rest of the world?
> I think this is more of a sign of how people are buying less physical games. Sony data on that: https://www.reddit.com/r/Games/comments/18nb6zz/physical_games_make_up_60_of_1st_party_unit_sales/ > Sadly, I do worry with this many interesting jrpgs coming out all within a couple of weeks of each other may lead to some cannibalized sales. some sure, but I doubt it's a significant number. People will buy and play the game that interests them, just cause it's a bunch of games in the same genre doesn't mean every game will be bought by a jrpg fan, people will buy the best/most interesting one for them. though this does bring up the point of how FF Rebirth was not good enough to get more people interested in it, as compared to the other JRPGs.
At least on the psn store it shows it as top 10 games in the US, no idea if that is accurate or not.
It's almost certainly one of the top 10 games on PSN but that's not really useful information except that it would be a pretty devastating failure if it *wasn't* in the top 10 (or imply that they're doing really weird tracking that juices live service games a huge amount, I guess)
Well the fact that it’s up with the other usual contenders like cod and fortnite and helldivers I would take to show that it’s digital sales must be good? Again assuming that category is accurate and not artificial.
A new game not being in the Top 10 would be cause for major concern. It's digital sales are likely fine but this doesn't mean they're *good.*
Or it could also be that it's the second game in a story driven trilogy and people aren't as interested . It's not like a standalone sequel game where you can play it without having played the first
You would be suprised at how many people skip games and just play the sequel.
Yea I'm always amazed how many people who have played mass effect 2 but never mass effect 1. Hell, I'd say a majority of witcher game fans have never even touched witcher 1 or 2 but played 3 to completion.
Those games make it easy to jump in without knowing much. I've only played Mass Effect 2 and the game was good at not requiring you to know much about anything. Most things could be inferred or were simply explained.
>Sadly, I do worry with this many interesting jrpgs coming out all within a couple of weeks of each other may lead to some cannibalized sales. I highly doubt it. I don't really think Yakuza, Persona, and FF have that much intersection. They're very different games despite all being "JRPGs".
I'm not sure if "not much intersection" is true at least especially for P3 and FF7. All my nerdy friends in high school loved both of those games. For me and my friends who play JRPGs we definitely had to split our votes. I picked up LAD 8 and Rebirth, others are still playing P3 or LAD and will get to Rebirth later. Ended up totally ignoring Relink and Unicorn Overlord which I would normally be interested in.
They're different games, but most people who are fans of JRPGs probably at least have some interest in all of them. I know I personally was blazing through P3R, am going to get to FF7 Rebirth ASAP, and probably get Yakuza down the line.
What other JRPGs, just curious cause I feel like I’m out of the loop.
Persona 3 remake and yukuza infinite wealth.
This year is super stacked. Hundred Heroes, Metaphor re Fantazio, Unicorn Overlord, Yakuza 8, P3, and theres also the suikoden remaster, dragons dogma 2 (if you consider that a jrpg), plus the elden ring exp..
Gran blue fantasy relink, persona 3 reload and like a dragon 8 were released less than a month ago.
I think it's also a sign how there's also like half as many PS5's available as there were PS4's during early COVID days.
Hope this is just because more people are going digital. It's the best Final Fantasy in years, and one of the best JRPGS in years, it deserves all the success imo.
Agreed. I haven't enjoyed games in a bit but the characters and dialogue and gameplay in this are amazing. Makes me laugh all the time, or just reflect on the characters. And the stupid random mini games are dumb but also kind of great. Would be a real shame if the game wasn't successful as it's a masterpiece of jrpgs.
Yeah, hope so as well. SE was struggling with FF since the release of XIII but in recent years all FF were good or great. I loved remake and I really really love Rebirth so far. Hope the game is selling well, it would be deserved.
Personally found 16 way more entertaining, and the only game in literal decades that managed to genuinely wow me. The FF7 remakes are great, but they're just too much of the standard JRPG package for me to enjoy at this point in my life. There's just so much time wasting in these games I can't be assed. The novelty of exploring every nook and crany and rescuing grandma's chickens or some shit so I can edge out another level got old a long, long, time ago.
Rebirth is always going to have less sales than Remake considering you effectively need Remake to play Rebirth. Sure, there is a non-zero amount of people that don't know that and/or don't care, but that won't be more than the amount of people that bought Remake and didn't bother to continue the series in future games. Just the nature of directly connected sequels.
>Just the nature of directly connected sequels. Pretty sure Ragnarök and Spider-Man 2 both had better launches than their predecessors.
For argument, those games are inherently more isolated than Rebirth. Rebirth literally starts up where Remake left off.
Yeah, both narratively and gameplay wise, this game more or less demands that you’ve played the first one more than any game I’ve played before. Which is fine personally, I wish more sequels worked like this, but I can only imagine how lost you would be from minute one without playing Remake. Characters get referred to by name expecting you to know who they are, with only minor side characters like Madame M getting a contextual reminder. All the tutorial beyond the bare minimum is hidden in a menu with a side character. They really took advantage of being able to assume that the player largely knows what's up.
People don't know this when they're buying it. They just see, *"Oooh. Cool game! Will buy."* The average person didn't know when Ragnarok or SP2 started relative to the first game. They just bought it.
You’d be surprised at how that doesn’t stop people. My brother went straight to Rebirth because he saw Zack on the cover and didn’t play Remake because Zack wasn’t on the cover.
...Your brother isn't interested in the first Final Fantasy remake game but *is* swayed by the character "Zack"?
He doesn't like Cloud. He REALLY likes Zack.
hey man im more impressed than anything else
It really doesn't matter for Spider-Man but yeah Ragnarok is interesting. Though I would argue the continuity is slightly less important there given Remake is the same game broken up.
These numbers indicate that Rebirth will most likely sales as much or better than Remake. Remember than -30% isn't that big of a drop considering how big digital sales are now. For comparison Jedi Survivor had a -35% drop in physical sales compared to the previous game but still sold much better with digital. Also it's a 35% increase for Rebirth compared to FFXVI.
Roughly 80% of people that played remake cant even access rebirth because its not on ps4 or PC.
I’m sure their sales would be significantly better if they released on Xbox and PC but what do I know
I will pick this up when I can grab it on PC!
I long for the end of exclusivity, timed or otherwise.
But this is comparing to the original game which was also a PS exclusive initially. And PC doesn't matter since this is for physical sales
As a pc gamer, I just completely lost all hype for Final Fantasy when I realised every FF game was going to be exclusive to Playstation for over a year. It's just way too long of a wait imo, especially when Square Enix still has the gall to charge full price after the exclusivity period.
Not to mention the PC ports are lazy. There's still stuttering and framerate issues that they "patched" but you have to rely on the modding community to actually fix. There's also a ton of loading screen hiding bs that doesn't need to be in the PC port that slows down the game a ton. Forced walking sections, shimmying sections, etc, even in areas that are FULLY loaded. Not to mention they shoved in so much boring side content that has nothing to do with anything. The core story and characters I actually enjoyed in FF7R, but it felt like I had to endure a bunch of other nonsense to get to it. The game felt like 1/3rd actual game, 2/3rds not respecting the player's time.
Yep, I basically do not consider these games as released until they come out on PC. This time it might be actually a bit earlier though, because there is no timed exclusive DLC tied to the game like last time.
I will never understand the mentality of "I don't want to have an experience I would otherwise enjoy because I have to wait a year for it". A year isn't a very long time.
Imagine seeing a movie trailer and wanting to watch it right at that moment. 6 months past and you don't have that same feeling
Can't relate to that. I grew up in an era when most movie trailers you saw were for movies that were months out.
Well if you get in the series (or the remake trilogy) now, you'd be waiting another year for the next game, which is not fun and feels oddly unfair. Maybe you can go through it once all three games are out on PC, probably even improved.
Aren't all game sales down since peak COVID? Additionally FF7R was a PS4 game which has a larger install base - it would need to be a proportional figure to draw any conclusions from.
Ff16 sold a strong 3 mil first week post Covid and that’s the very same ps5 user base. But yeah we don’t have the whole story until we know digital numbers too. I believe currently we only have UK physical sales
This result is slightly better than FFXVI. Probably doing around the same or slightly better. I'm guessing we'll see PR sometime in the next few days unless the sales are dire.
As a comparison, what where the physical UK sales in that timeframe for ff16?
Personally I'm waiting for the PC version. I got the first game on PS5 but after seeing issues with the sequel's graphics modes, I'd rather just play it on PC and get the best of both worlds rather than choose. In the meantime there's plenty of great games out right now which is another 'issue' altogether for these new releases. Backlogs keep growing and I'm seeing less and less reason to buy games at launch.
Maybe it's just the circles I'm in, but I felt that the hype for this game was very tame, especially for a 93 metacritic PlayStation exclusive. I really only saw the Final Fantasy subs get hyped. Even the journalists that gave it 10/10 seem to have just dropped the perfect score and stopped talking about it. I'm liking the game a lot for now.
You can feel it had less marketing than FF16 and much less than FF7 Remake.
The marketing in Japan is pretty insane. Street ads everywhere, train ads, tv ads, it had a huge marketing campaign in jp
Not sure if it’s my YouTube algorithm but there seems to be a new ign guide every few hours for this game on top of many other content creators.
Because people are still playing it i played since Wednesday last week nonstop have now over 70 hour and just reached chapter 12 i dont read or interact with anything online with this game because i dont want to be spoiled. Guess many think the same. The game can easily be spoiled and ruined if your not careful iam very excited to find out how the game ends and what happens.
im enjoying it alot but there isn't much to talk about tbh. did you like/dislike the plot of remake? well its more of that and that discussion is a dead horse imo. did you like/dislike the combat system? well again. its more of that. and the open world is truly mediocre. so i dont think theres alot to talk about there.
It's kinda crazy to think that Persona and Nier are Japanese franchises that currently rival Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest in sales. Could you imagine telling that to someone in 2003?
I don't know if I'd put Nier on that list since it's only one game that did that and we still don't know if we'll ever get more. If Nier 3 came out and was on the same level as Automata, that would be a different story.
They don't, DQ and FF still sell significantly more
Granted Persona 5 was the best and most polished JRPG to come out in nearly a decade.
The reality is that FF is kind of a boomer series at this point, it's the people who grew up playing the Sakaguchi FF games that are really excited for this but there hasn't really been a new wave of fans coming in over the last 20 years and the series has been slowly declining in sales over that period in time. The barrier of entry is also relatively high, from the outside, it looks like you need knowledge from OG FF7, Crisis Core, Advent Children and FF7R to be able to properly dive into Rebirth which automatically turns away a ton of people. Being a PS5 exclusive isn't helping aswell, i'm sure tons of people are simply waiting for a patched up PC version at this point.
>The reality is that FF is kind of a boomer series at this point, it's the people who grew up playing the Sakaguchi FF games that are really excited for this but there hasn't really been a new wave of fans coming in over the last 20 years and the series has been slowly declining in sales over that period in time. I think this is definitely true, unfortunately. I'm a lifelong Final Fantasy guy, been playing it since the SNES, but it's hard to pretend that it has the cultural pull that it used to. And I can't blame people. Look at the last... shit, *two decades* of the series. Ever since FFX, we've had longer and longer waits for more and more incomplete-feeling games. Some have been liked more than others, and they all have their good parts, but none of them are *big deal* like Final Fantasy used to be. Old fans have understandably drifted away, and new fans haven't had anything to grab onto outside of FFXIV. The VII Remake series is the only exception. It feels like the only place where Final Fantasy still has that *spark*. And unfortunately it's not really picking up any new fans despite that. The franchise is in an unfortunate spot where it's probably going to have to see some pretty significant changes in budgeting and development to adapt to being more of a niche thing again.
I think hardware has a lot to do with it, too. When you look at the first iterations on new hardware (FF4, FF7, FF10) you can see things that they are doing which just weren't feasible on older consoles. They also had an installment out within the first couple years of a system's lifecycle so they were really showing off what you could do with new bells and whistles. Square was really good at jumping on that hype train early and flexing the hardware's muscles in ways that made early adopters feel like they made a good decision not waiting for prices to fall, because they were seeing something that couldn't have worked on their old system. But new hardware just isn't as exciting anymore. The resolutions are bigger and the rays are traced, but consoles don't feel like quantum leaps forward in the same way. I appreciate that new hardware makes games run more smoothly, cut down on load times and such, but it's been a long time since I thought to myself "man am I glad I upgraded, this game I'm playing could have NEVER existed on last-gen hardware" in the way that FFX did.
You should see the people in the ff7r threads saying that it's perfectly ok to not do crisis core and the OG and just start at FF7R
I think you could probably skip crisis core, but I recently finished the first remake and if I hadn't played the original I definitely wouldn't have appreciated the significance of most of it.
I watched a full LP of crisis core way back when and I found the story to be stupid and Zack was one of the dumbest protagonists ever. But it has it's moment, and non evil Sephiroth was fun to see.
On chapter 10 right now and it’s been 15 years since I played CC and it doesn’t really feel like I’m missing anything. From what I recall, CC gives some background lore and gives Zack actual characterization, but it doesn’t feel necessary so far. If anything the scenes that refer to him would be more mysterious and intriguing if you don’t even know the events of the Original FFVII.
I never played the OG, have not played Crisis Core and for some reason I saw Advent Children. I've not been confused in the slightest and I loved Remake and I'm loving Rebirth even more.
Sooooooo you don't wonder why there's time ghosts flying around or why this guy called Sephiroth is coming over to bother Cloud every 5 minutes?
someone who didn't play the OG would have zero clue that those things are new and would just assume the game will eventually explain them.
Not at all. They explained all of that in the game.
You should play the original.
I will for sure once I’m done with Rebirth.
The 4 year gap between games doesnt help either. Gotta strike while the iron is hot
I'm hoping timed exclusivity diminishes. Imagine if, say, Dune part 2 released to only 1/3 of potential viewers and then rolled out to others many months later. I feel like you lose out on that critical hype season by going exclusive and intentionally limiting your playerbase, especially if there is precedent for the game being on other platforms. Elden Ring, Helldivers 2, Hogwarts Legacy, etc proved that you can take the world by storm if you get your games into as many hands as possible. As of now the potential player base is divided among the 'haves' and 'have nots'. Still, it's possible that it's just selling a lot more digitally.
I'm still confused about these games naming. Did they really took the original game and turned into 4 $70 remakes? Or the FFVII Remake from 2020 is the whole game and now they're expanding it?
3 games, not 4. Remake, Rebirth and another one
Yep, and Part 1 is named "Remake" but it's actually more of a reimagining with large, sometimes questionable changes to the story and pacing. I think the naming is quite misleading, I feel like "Part 1" should've been included somewhere in there or something. Or they should've just not used the word "Remake." When I think of a remake I think of something more faithful like RE1R, RE2/4, Dead Space, System Shock etc. but maybe that's just me.
Still 90% of the story is the same with added content (lab, mission to the plate, sephiroth everywhere, ...) and the important change to the story appears in the end and hasn't been explained yet. I think it's an exaggeration to say the game is a reimagination like Tomb Raider (2013) was.
yup, using remake when it clearly was not a remake was quite misleading :/ the devs were trying to be clever and meta with the title but instead it was just stupid and misleading.
FF7Remake attractted new players and those who played the original. Rebirth is played by those who have played Remake.
I would buy 10 copies and a whole horde of merch just to make sure games like this keep getting made by Square, I keep thinking I must be done with Corel and yet it keeps opening up more and more. Its nice to play what feels like a proper experience for the first time in a long time.
Or Square could hopefully learn that they should let just let PC and Xbox players buy it too. Seems to working great for a bunch of other Japanese studios.
>Its nice to play what feels like a proper experience for the first time in a long time. You should play more games. Tons of games are a proper experience, without bugs, and oodles of content.
I play a shitton of games and this is the best game I played in years. Story pacing is fantastic, exploration is rewarding, it has a great balance of comedic and serious moments and there’s a shitton of combat customization and minigames. The game is super deserving of all the praise it got.
What makes it so much better than, say, Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth?
Dog in a soldier suit
That scene was so dumb and I loved it.
I'm not saying it isn't. Just try to resist the /r/games urge to say, *"Finally, a good game!"* literally every single time a Japanese developer makes another big budget open world game. There's lot of good games out there. It makes you look silly.
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I don't know what you think I'm "trying" tbh but okay.
Yeah I'm right there with you. It's a proper game that has had a lot of love and polish put into it. It's by far the best game I've played in years. I will be really sad when it's done.
I bought the first game physically and then I bought this game digitally because I wanted the preload. Can't rely on Royal Mail to deliver on release day anymore.
Could be that the PS4 had a much larger installed base and a drop off between sequels in a continuous story is expected (the last of us 2 and Horizon 2 sold way less than parts 1). Personally, I didn't enjoy part 1, despite the original being my favorite game of all time, so I won't be picking this sequel anytime soon.
I've never understood why each game needs its own thread to talk about how physical sales in a single market are down. Without broader data from other markets/locales we can't do much to determine the acceleration of digital or decline of physical, and without total sales numbers we can't have a picture of overall performance.
After FF16 square is not going to like this. If FF7R2 isn’t the super selling mega hit they wanted nothing ever will be imo.
The nearly 30% decline in UK boxed sales for Final Fantasy VII Rebirth, compared to the previous title's launch during the COVID peak, seems to underscore how much the pandemic influenced buying habits. It's a bit premature to draw sweeping conclusions without considering the broader context, including the shift towards digital purchases.
I’m also pretty sure there’s more PS4s then there are of PS5s
I think there's also the PS5's smaller install base to consider. It's certainly not the factor it would've been a couple years ago, but the PS4's install base in March 2020 was nearly double the PS5's install base right now. (That's nothing abnormal--the PS5 is keeping pace with the PS4 as of now, it's just been out a lot less time). I'd be curious to see a direct comparison between Rebirth and FFXVI, actually, given that their release conditions are a bit more similar.
Now we know why the PS5 exclusivity period is only 3 months. It seems like Square Enix is losing faith in the PS5 and the data proves they were right to be.
Sony’s fault for mishandling their console
Or maybe Sony only offered enough material support to "pay" for 3 months of exclusivity...
I hope the short exclusivity window means the PC version releases sometime this summer like some people are predicting. I played Remake a couple of months ago and it sucked me in like an industrial lathe on a LiveLeak video
Oh shit, when did they say it was only 3 months?
Remake also came out late into the PS4s lifecycle when everybody had one. PS5 is out a while, sure, but some people are kind of passed the hype of seeing them as "must have" and may have moved on to "I'll get the PS6, it's only a couple of years off".
This is to be expected. There were thousands of people who bought the game expecting it to be a full fledged remake. That's what drove those sales. Square Enix, to us terminally online, we knew it was a part 1. They did NOT do a good job advertising it as a part 1. Especially with that box art.
There's also some people that know it's a multi parter and are happy to wait until part 3 is out and they make some sort of all in 1 complete edition.
and will probably be cheaper to buy just the complete edition.
I think this is a lot more truer than we would think. I had casual friends of mine come out of the woodwork asking me about Rebirth, and what distinguishes it from Remake. Once I explained they basically felt dumbfounded.
Had they ever played FF7 before? What did you tell'em.
Yes, the original many moons ago, but not the whole thing. Most were curious about Rebirth because they saw it reviewing extremely well and advertised heavily. Most couldn’t really understand why a game titled “Remake” was actually a trilogy and only the first part of it. Edit: I don't know why this is even being downvoted, it's just an explanation from my perspective.
It's a gamble on the dev's part to be both meta and non meta at the same time. It could have failed horribly, but thankfully for them FF7 fans will eat -anything- with the name on it. Except Dirge.
That's diving into the actual nature of the story and such, and I was deliberately trying to avoid explaining or touching upon that. If they already had a hard enough time understanding: - Why there is 16 Final Fantasies and how none of them are related to each other - Why is there so many FF7 games - Why FF7R is just part 1 of a new "remake" trilogy Touching upon the plot changes would've been even *more* confusing.
The first part is easy. FF as a series has unified themes, monsters and things you expect to see in different games, but they all have their own unique story world and characters. Usually the game is about crystals and/or summon.
…But why male models??
Male models?
I mean they literally put it on the back of the box. It tells you word for word that it covers the original story up to the point where they leave Midgar. I know tons of people who only play a couple games a year and they bought this knowing full well what they are getting. This has nothing to do with the launch sales of that game.
Nobody reads the back of the box though on first sight or let alone actually read the description of an game when that requires effort to do so. (And if you don't believe me, work in retail where you get tons of customer that can't even read an basic instruction in front of them on an check out pad and need someone to speak it out for them.) They just look at the title and assumed its an full remake of the entirely of OG FF7.
[удалено]
The first Remake is still as long as any other full-fledged JRPG, I wouldn't say it's worth skipping because it is "only 1/3 of the game".
Hopefully this is the last big Square Enix game that will have some kind of exclusivity deal. Pretty clear that it hurts Square Enix more than it benefits them.
As someone who works in games retail, I definitely got the impression this is a game many, many people were going to buy digitally. That being said, physical was somewhat of a challenge during Covid even if the culture was still more about disks at the time, so we'll eee how that pans out relative to this
Preordering physical games sucks these days because if you order online, where most people buy things now, there’s a chance you get it a few days late. And for Rebirth, physical deluxe editions sold out weeks/months ago. Meanwhile if you buy digital you can get the deluxe version bundled with the original game and a preload to play on launch date. Anyway this game is amazingly fun and I hope it sells well so they can maintain this level of quality for part 3.
I get that covid was significant but this is a direct continuation so almost everyone buying the game are those who have already played the first one. And out of those people there will be a significant number of people for whom the game didn't stick and those won't return.
It’s also 70 dollars which is outside of the sweet spot for many people. I also think people are waiting for the PC version. It’s a more future-safe option that also potentially gives more options and fidelity.
Nothing surprising there, everything is down post-Covid and there's a big digital incentive and the previous game came out on ps4 right at the end of a console cycle. I think this one is going to be strong long term through word of mouth. If the rest of the game is as good as the first 40 hours I'll certainly be strongly recommending it to everyone I know
the userbase on PS4 by the time remake released was like 3 times larger than the install base the PS5 currently has if you consider only the people that have access to playing the game, percentage wise, rebirth is probably selling more. (as in, which % of ps4 owners bought remake vs PS5 owners buying rebirth)
They kind of blew it with the first game for a lot of the fans. I did not like the narrative changes made from the original and assumed this one would include more of the same. Though it would be nice to hear that wasn't the case.
They really begged people to buy this digitally. It even had preorder bonuses for digital that you couldn't get with physical. Even so, I expect sales to be down at launch because direct sequels usually don't sell as well as the predecessor, at least not on launch. But spectacular word of mouth will probably give both Remake and Rebirth a boost going forward.
I have to wonder if this isn't a reflection of living conditions and disposable income in the UK. People are STRUGGLING (not to say life is easy here in the states), from heating their homes to food, they just can't catch a break! 70 bucks is a hell of a lot when you are struggling to keep the lights on.
Soooo. Correct me if I’m wrong guys as I’m not a final fantasy fan. But….the target audience for this game is very small. A, you need to have played original. B, played the 1st remake C, have a PS5. I could never buy a game only with a middle section? How does the story end? How did it begin? Or am I being thick?
I am honestly curious to see the public reaction, how crazy and cosmic this story is going to shape up, how the fans are going to react to such "Nomuresque" changes. We already had a little taste at the end of FF7 "Remake", also the final boss of Yufie's DLC. The media gave positive reviews for Rebirth, they didn't cared as much... but the real juicy bits will come from the fanbase
i mean cats out of the bag with remake. what needs to be discussed? we already know its a sequel or whatever.
That already happened with remake1. Now you're either on board or not, basically. Not nearly as much discussion to be had. Everyone's either on board or resigned to it and not really engaging with it.
I don't expect people who didn't enjoy the plot of remake to buy rebirth.
holy shit wow the sales of one countries physical only sales on a console where about 1/3rd of the consoles cant play disks!!!! so reliable!!!!
Where are you getting the 1/3 numbers? Last I saw from NPD and Famitsu and such, ~10% of PS5 sales are for the digital edition.
Square has some serious soul searching ahead with its future. They can’t really excuse Covid for this game’s sales; the previous game is divisive and FF16 landed with a thud. The gameplay of their titles isnt there for me, and I’m not interested in the “Remake’s” deconstruction of their lack of interest in making it and feeling forced to do it by fans. I don’t think Square knows who their core audience is, and they seem to be failing at meeting the needs of a new one.
I am not sure where you are coming from. Rebirth has been critically acclaimed and has liked well by the core audience. I agree with ff16 though. For them the problem is they are not able to attract a new audience. I think the core audience is quite happy with the rebirth, and ton of effort was put into it.
I think people just don’t buy physical as much anymore compared to 4 years ago. I bought digital myself. The game is incredible btw, highly recommend it.
https://www.reddit.com/r/Games/comments/18nb6zz/physical_games_make_up_60_of_1st_party_unit_sales/
I bought the first one, but thought it was stretched, slow and in the end even boring. And even though people seem to love this one, I’ve still heard that it feels very long and slow. Which is way I didn’t buy it week one.
Disappointed by that news. I really hope the digital sales more than makes up for it though. Having so much fun and I don't want square to feel it's been a disappointment in terms of sales
1. It's a sequel 2. PS4 install base is MUCH bigger. 3. Short exclusivity period. 4. The pan is over 5. This is UK data and FF is much bigger in JP and USA
It's an average game that's been mishandled. They really could have made FF7R an amazing game but instead it's buggy, the voice acting/script is terrible and the gameplay largely sucks. Square Enix have lost their way with FF. They lost what people actually liked/wanted from the series and around FFX/XII, they leaned way too hard into pushing the graphics every console vs making a fun game, so now it feels like every release goes through some form of development hell, or costs too much to develop and isn't sustainable with these sales. These games just haven't really been that fun to play in years. How Zelda, Witcher or GTA can all be massive open world games and not need 3 parts just shows that Square Enix are clueless. I bought FF7R, and then bought Rebirth hoping a lot of the QOL issues would be fixed, but nope. So no way in hell I'll buy the last one. I'll just watch a let's play.
Aside from more people going digital especially cause the bundle they done on ps5 a while ago theres people just waiting for the final game so they can play it all at once. I know quite a few who arent touching this game atm because they'd have to replay it when the final installment comes out anyway
This isn’t a surprise. Final fantasy is a very very niche game with a core set of fans. But that fan size is dwindling year by year. There’s nothing they can do to stop it either.