Despite being one of the most critically acclaimed games to release in 2024, Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth's sales numbers seem to have missed the mark for developer Square Enix. The second game in a planned trilogy re-imagining the classic Final Fantasy 7, Rebirth continues where the previous game, Remake, left off, taking players through an expanded version of the original game's middle sections. Despite Remake having launched on the PS4, however, Rebirth is, at the moment, entirely exclusive to the PS5, and has not been ported to any other platforms.
As reported by Eurogamer, Square Enix president Takashi Kiryu has stated that Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth, along with other games recently released by Square Enix, have all underperformed relative to the company's expectations. The statement was made in a recently publicized results meeting held in May, with Kiryu saying that for FF7 Rebirth and Final Fantasy 16, "profits unfortunately did not meet our expectations," and that, in addition, the sales of Square's live-service title Foamstars were below expectations as well.
Rebirth's Underperformance Could Mark An All-Time Low For The Series
Recent Final Fantasy Games, Especially Rebirth, Have Been Declining In Of Sales
While Square Enix has a history of setting its expectations very high, having, in the past, deemed relatively high-selling games like Hitman: Absolution and Tomb Raider (2013) as financial failures, it is true that the mainline Final Fantasy games launched after the release of Final Fantasy 15 in 2016 have seen a sharp decline in sales, with Rebirth in particular, despite good reviews, reportedly selling drastically less than Remake. In combination with the rising cost and development time of AAA games, the profits of Final Fantasy (outside the consistently strong FFXIV) are likely to be at an all-time low.
Final Fantasy 15 has reportedly ed 10 million units sold, a number which no later mainline Final Fantasy game has managed to reach.
One factor that could be exacerbating the issue, however, is Rebirth's exclusivity to the PS5. Remake, which was initially released for the PS4 in 2020 before receiving its next-gen upgrade, Intergrade, in 2021, benefited from releasing essentially at the end of the PS4's lifespan and being massively hyped up for several years. In comparison, Rebirth potentially suffers from the PS5's lower base, and, in general, from being a sequel to a game released for the previous generation of PlayStation.
While no official announcements have been made, it's likely that Rebirth, like Remake and FF16, will be ported to PC at some point in the future, which should bolster the game's sales by a decent amount. However, the game's underperformance is a potentially poor sign for the future of the Final Fantasy series - especially for the as-yet unnamed sequel to Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth, which will mark the end of the FF7 Remake trilogy.
Source: Eurogamer
Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth
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- Top Critic Avg: 92/100 Critics Rec: 97%
- Released
- February 29, 2024
- ESRB
- T For Teen Due To Blood, Language, Mild Suggestive Themes, Use of Alcohol and Tobacco, Violence
- Developer(s)
- Square Enix
- Publisher(s)
- Square Enix
- Engine
- Unreal Engine 4
Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth is the sequel to Final Fantasy 7 Remake and will see Cloud and his friends set off beyond the walls of Midgar to explore the world, stop Sephiroth's machinations, and see the world outside their slum prison. Now that the whispers of fate no longer guide the characters along the pre-destined path set in the original PlayStation classic Final Fantasy 7, the heroes (and villains) will shape the future. The game will still visit prominent locales and revisit crucial story points, but it will be a more significant departure from the first game from the source material.
- Franchise
- Final Fantasy
- Platform(s)
- PC
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