According to Square Enix, the universally beloved Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth and the extremely successful Final Fantasy 16 have both underperformed in terms of sales according to the company’s estimates. This was revealed through the earnings results that took place in May, in which the Japanese developer stated disappointing sales as the cause for low profits.
The statement said that even the release, and subsequent flop, of Foamstars, was not enough to save Q4, which was also when Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth was released. This means that the results were being discussed only a month after the release of Rebirth.
All of the major release from Square Enix were timed PlayStation 5 exclusives, and this was cited as one of the reasons of the “unimpressive” sales numbers. If these were also released on Xbox Series X|S, that might have generated a lot more sales, and thus, income for Square Enix.
Since this earnings briefing took place, Final Fantasy 16 has been released on PC, adding to its sales numbers, but Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth is still only playable on the PlayStation 5, with no announcement so far.
Square Enix also went on to say that a multiplatform approach is in the cards for future releases. This might help with extra sales at the initial launch of titles. It went on to say that these HD games including AAA titles will become available for more players, and this includes the company’s back catalog.
It was recently announced that Foamstars will be going free-to-play from next month as well, and originally launched for $30. However, it was available to PlayStation Plus Extra and Premium subscribers as a day-one exclusive.
Square Enix suffered a major drop in its share price not too long ago, which means there was a lack of investor confidence in the company. But the studio is still adamant that the last game in the FF7 Remake trilogy will be a masterpiece that fans will enjoy. On the flip side, fans are also confident that Square Enix will deliver a game worthy of being a successor to the masterfully created Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth.
