FF7 Rebirth Sales aren't bad after all

[@FailroadExpress]

I genuinely appreciate all the comments, regardless of whether you agree with me or not. I get that things like this can be a heated topic and there have been some very logic and well thought out disagreements on here. Please, continue to debate in a friendly manor.

[@mexmexican8619]

Games like this don’t just disappear. This is game of the decade.

[@ademirc5937]

It's a great great game. Loved every moment of it. Game of the decade is a bit of a stretch though. Going to be tough for BG3 to be dethroned from that honor.

[@pandaeyez]

@@ademirc5937 It's a stretch for you. But for them and me also, I agree with them. It's game of the decade for me too. I haven't had this much fun playing a game in such a long time.

[@watchamigos1232]

The sales for Rebirth were in no way a failure, only because they didn't meet Square's unrealistically high bar for sales. It's an exclusive PS5 game so, to some extent, you already block out some of your player base due to exclusivity. But this game, it's easily my GOTY and I don't see why it does not win GOTY this year because it's fluffed up with too much content with care that it's just one absolutely amazing package to have.

[@FailroadExpress]

Yeah, if it didn't have all that content people would be complaining that SE missed an opportunity to put lots of mini games and lots of sidequests in the game. There will always be a portion of the fandom who are not pleased.

[@watchamigos1232]

@@FailroadExpress The biggest fault here is that there are people with a completionist mindset mixed with not wanting to put much effort or people who try to binge each and every content in the game in one sitting. In both cases, you're trying to put more than you can chew and getting frustrated for it. Mini-games are optional, don't wanna do them, DON'T! But it's sad that these useless complaints ended up with devs stating that there will be less mini-games for part 3 and the plat will be easier. That's already a downgrade from Rebirth which is the last thing I want from Part 3.

[@jase276]

The fact remains that Playstation is where their highest demographic is. The only other is Nintendo but these games are too powerful for the Switch. FF13, all three parts, was dedicated towards the Xbox and it flopped. FF7 Remake sold around 7 million and steam only contributed to 1 million of those sales. If we look at the numbers, FF7 remake cost around $140 million to make. Since Rebirth is even bigger, has more fidelity, etc. it's safe to assume it at least cost that much. Rebirth also had way more marketing so expect dozens more millions put into that. Let's say $200-240 million total budget. The last reported number we saw was 2 million units sold in April. So, Rebirth made back about half of the budget in 2 months. It's been 10 months since the game launched so I imagine they already made a bit of profit. I can see why Square would be dissatisfied as they'd probably wanted to at least double their investment before the end of the year instead of break even. Since FF7 Remake barely reached 7 million this year, I doubt Rebirth sold 8 million by now

[@FailroadExpress]

@@jase276 yeah, I think it's safe to assume that.

[@SortofFriendlySM]

What’s impressive is that Rebirth was a ps5 exclusive, the others weren’t

[@OwtDaftUK]

Where I buy most my new games (The Game Collection) Final Fantasy VII Rebirth is currently at the top of their best selling as of writing this comment.

[@FailroadExpress]

That's great to know. I'm sure the awards season has something to do with that but It's still awesome.

[@khbigchris1969]

I’ve played the original final fantasy 7 so makes me happy

[@pandaeyez]

Ah, I feel vindicated. I knew sales for Rebirth would be good. There's just a lot of misinformation out there and a certain narrative that people ran with due to Square's unrealistic expectations.

[@RedOblivion711]

Always bothered me that the game not reaching the crazy bar SE wanted it to reach automatically deemed it a failure, particularly by randos and articles pointing it out like ‘see?! It didn’t sell well! The game I don’t like and want to fail is bad!!’ If I want to raise 10k for something and got 7k instead, that’s not a failure. It’s not ideal, but it’s still pretty damn good. I get that the project wasn’t everyone’s favorite or what they hoped for, but this mentality that something you don’t like has to burn or fail for validation is so silly.

[@FailroadExpress]

Yeah. I remember a lot of articles being taken out of context or people just looking at the title and assuming that the reason for the problem was SE's Final Fantasy Games.

[@eclektric]

People didn't really piss on this game, SE pissed on themselves. No matter how yummy a restaurants food is, if they don't have customers they stop making yummy food

[@ghostofhallownest5300]

KZbin wannabe journalist killed me with dumping on a game that had a 92 rating and is one of the HIGHEST rated Final Fantasy’s. They forget this as they try to dump on it knowing damn well this game was amazing. We live in the contrarian/hater age. I don’t like something so I will 🧢 and say it’s not good and give dubious and downright incorrect information to fit my narratives ahhh 🤡. Glad it is doing pretty good

[@metastase895]

How many FF13s a company needs to pump out before you can admit it's a bad company? How about 13 years, is that good enough for you?

[@redundis579]

I bought the physical collectors edition and digital deluxe myself. Granted I had reasons for getting the digital deluxe as I physically could not make it to my bedroom. So I played the entirety of the game on a PlayStation portal. Wasn't ideal however I did enjoy the game very much. I'm in a better spot now, probably will play it again at some point in the next couple of years (leading up to part 3).

[@FailroadExpress]

Definitely a good idea. I need to continue playing it so I can get passed all the Battles on Gilgamesh island.

[@j3fk4]

Bein nominated to GOTY matters a lot, especially once it wins the GOTY!

[@FailroadExpress]

I certainly hope it does.

[@punipunipyo]

It IS GOTY

[@FailroadExpress]

Indeed!

[@talison461]

man, i cant believe that a dumbed down mario knock off won game of the year. just ridiculous

[@FailroadExpress]

@@talison461 I've played Astro's Playground and it was a lot of fun. I can see why it was nominated but I still wish Rebirth had won.

[@Chaosmite]

To square, if it’s not 10M sold, then it’s a failure. Since they are a 3rd party, it doesn’t make sense to make the games exclusive. What benefits do they get from it?

[@FailroadExpress]

Yeah, the market has changed. In the past Sony payed them big to keep FF exclusive to PlayStation but I don't know how much. It was something tones of developers would do back in the PS1 to PS3 era. The cost to produce the games didn't outweigh exclusivity like it does now. That and the fact that there are far less PS5s out there than previous generations.

[@Aragami_Sense]

If they would have made it for xbox and pc it would have taken much longer to make and it would have costed alot more and it wouldn't have been as good and polished. They could ha e released them faster on other consoles or pc and hire a 3rd party to do the port... but I'm glad they did it for ps5/sony only...

[@Chaosmite]

@ they use PC to make games, and both PlayStation and Xbox uses the same architecture as the PC, so it wouldn’t be hard to port over.

[@NicofromParis]

FF VII Rebirth, my GOTY. What a great game !

[@FailroadExpress]

My GOTY, too!

[@Steroyd666]

I never take Square seriously when it comes to sales, I remember they were disappointed at the Tomb Raider reboot _only_ selling 3 million in a month, I'd love to know what the hell their projections are so I can laugh.

[@FailroadExpress]

Yeah. We may never know.

[@halrun209plays5]

I heard a lot of people say they're not going to buy it until the 3rd gamer comes out so hopefully they'll be a jump in sales when the Final Chapter comes out

[@FailroadExpress]

I imagine there will be. I’m sure Remake sales increased this year as well.

[@halrun209plays5]

@@FailroadExpress plus in 10 years from now I can guarantee you there will be a remastered trilogy

[@Rob_Banks_TV]

They are fucking missing out so much lol

[@FailroadExpress]

@@halrun209plays5 I can only imagine how pretty that will look. It'll only take up half a Tb on your drive. 😁

[@fahriza88]

the thing is, I remember preordering Rebirth digitally around january and it came with a bonus package of FF 7 Remake Intergrade (full game not only the DLC) with just the price of one game around 70$.. thats why I was able to play Yuffie's Intermission, bcus I finished FF 7 Remake on Ps4 not the PS5 exclusive Intergrade.. I wonder if they would do the same for the 3rd game or not.. Rebirth as a bonus? lol.. if it happens, people dont have to buy it anymore, they just need to buy the 3rd game and I guess its not counted as increase in sales?

[@KaijinZSurohm]

If FF7 Rebirth selling about 1.5 million units is "pretty well" then I guess Square is killing it in 2024 😂

[@jiggerypokery2962]

Square expected 80 million copies to be sold so only getting probably 5 by now made them say it underpreformed.

[@ThatBeingCed]

That underperformed meme is getting old Their Western Studios costed a lot more just to operate. Tomb raider costed them a lot to develop so they needed more sales to recoup on investment. That's why they had high sales expectations. At the end of the day, you have to convince your investors that the money they put into your company will profit more than what they would've made by putting that same money in a low interest but safe investment. Rebirth and XVI probably did recoup all of their development costs and even made a profit, but it wasn't enough to keep the investors satisfied.

[@pipsqueaksgaming7029]

When did square say they expect 80 million? There aren’t even that many ps5 owners right now.

[@MrLightlike78]

​@@pipsqueaksgaming7029they're just exaggerating for effect. Because se is constantly underwhelmed by sales. Hence the meme.

[@saesang352]

For how good this game is, it should have sold like 10-15 million. I don’t think I’ve played a game with this much quality and content since the original FF7.

[@MetalCrazy666]

IF FF7 Rebirth actually sold 5 million copies, then it made 350 million dollars, but 30% goes to Sony so it made 245 million to Square, if we use numbers we know from AAA games costs: this game probably cost 300 million plus maybe 100 million for advertising, so yeah they losing money

[@DanteroomGreen]

A lot of players didn't know that the novel traces of two pasts exist that's the only way if players want to know what really happened to Tifa in midgar

[@FailroadExpress]

Very true.

[@DanteroomGreen]

tifa is going to find out that cloud's true trauma are the pods she'll soon find out where it originated

[@NuRm69]

That book also explains who Faz is (the name Tifa brings up when talking to Aerith on the cruise)

[@medigoomnis]

16 isnt really a FF game, not much in common, but hey i mean it still may generate sales toward real ones that arent DMC: GoT edition at least. Good to hear things have been misinterpreted, im hoping 17 is a real FF again and i need 7re3 in my life with no monetary hindrance hahaha

[@algee6005]

idk... FF16 felt very much like an FF game to me.

[@pedrogoncalves4585]

I hope that the switch 2 has enough power to run these games on a more downgraded version so i can finally play it, loved the remake cant wait to play rebirth

[@FailroadExpress]

It would be great to get these games on more consols.

[@PurposeDriven7_]

What were the actual sales?

[@FailroadExpress]

It’s hard to say as Square Enix has not released their total sales.

[@Hek0990v2]

Also you are aware that costs are largely PREDICTABLE provided they run to schedule - and that for a game that didn’t face delays the bigger variable driving profit performance is REVENUES. Look buddy I’m a fan of FF7 and Rebirth - but apply some logic for the love of god. Quite obviously the game underperformed. I’m hoping that award season can give the game a boost particularly if it scores GOTY.

[@FailroadExpress]

You're absolutely right, though it still leads me to wonder what their goal was and what the driving factors for that estimation were. I haven't seen evidence for either and I don't know that we ever will. I know there was a sales boost in Europe after the Golden Joystick so I definitely hope it gets the GOTY at the Game Awards.

[@Aragami_Sense]

Yeah, but most of the assets were reused from Intergrade & Intermission. It probably saved a lot of time and $.

[@Jahbu]

LOL! Shadow of the Terdtree! I’m a huge Elden Ring fan and that made me crack up so much! I love Final Fantasy more though. Rebirth is an incredible masterpiece. I just can’t see other games taking its top spot honestly. It’s just that good. Thanks for this wonderful news. One Love!

[@FailroadExpress]

Glad you liked it. I've got nothing against Elden Ring, though I've never played it. I just thought it would be funny! 🤣 I'm sure Erdtree is a great DLC. Yeah, FF7 Rebirth is one of the best games I've played, ever! It's my personal GOTY and I hope it wins big this year.

[@Rob_Banks_TV]

This was the best game this year hands down it also got the most Meta Critic Reviews out of the other games, also put this up against FF9 with the same exacr meta Reviews like 49 or so And Rebirth would have a perfect 10. Erdtree is good but requires Elden ring 2022 to be Played. DLC should not be considered at and ahould not even be in the same category, but it ahould of got its own.

[@FailroadExpress]

Definitely agree with you. There should be a DLC category. If Erdtree is that good, it should get an award in its own category.

[@neoarcadia2017]

Huge FF fan here, let me shed some light on this. Rebirth has not performed as well as Remake just taking a look at domestic sales (Japan) Remake is between 1.5m - 2m, Rebirth is around 500k-600k. WW its also not performing as well, is SE still making a ROI? Possibly but its diminishing returns on each title. FF needs some consistency with each release to maintain sales & grow the brand & audience. SE could certainly benefit from taking a page out of capcoms book.

[@jiggerypokery2962]

Rebirth sold 2 million copies in less than 2 months. They can't do much more then put out the greatest game of all time. What more do people want from them.

[@TheSteelers4190]

​@@jiggerypokery2962In my opinion the lack of consistency title to title, gap between big releases, and perceived subpar quality of mainline titles like XIII and XV hurt the brand. The solution to getting those huge numbers again isn't complex. Keep cranking out Rebirth quality games and do so in a more streamlined fashion by using Rebirth as the template to work from instead of trying to reinvent the wheel each year. Keep making bangers and the sales will follow.

[@aaronclay4665]

You do understand remake was on ps4 with more than 100k ps4 user....ps5 was at 55 to 60 million.....

[@FailroadExpress]

Thanks for the numbers. Yeah, sequels rarely make more than the originals and several other factors went into this but surely SE would have anticipated this. I agree with the consistency. If they can keep up their current production cycle and not deviate too much between their games, in terms of play styles, I think they can pull this off. FF7R Part 3 will hopefully help with this.

[@neoarcadia2017]

@ Regardless of the installbase rebirth isn’t showing great legs so consumers aren’t buying rebirth along with a PS5, core fans have bought the game but it’s attach rate is incredibly low

[@Hek0990v2]

Errr two things can be true. It can be both true that Rebirths sales failed to meet targets and cost reduction measures are being considered AND that the game is still Asia’s best seller. You are aware of that right??? These things are NOT MUTUALLY EXCLUSIVE.

[@FailroadExpress]

Err that's essentially what I said in this video. I just used different words.

[@Hek0990v2]

@ nope by using different words you said different things. You implied that reports of missed targets were overblown, you implied that revenue drivers were not the contributors to missed profits. These things are not true. I think precision of thought / communication here is important.

[@BGalligan65]

Final Fantasy XIII was released on Xbox.

[@FailroadExpress]

It was a really big seller back then.

[@Noushauga]

Kinda weird DD2 didn't win the Grand award considering it sold more than Rebirth in the US.. 🤔

[@ghostofhallownest5300]

What is dd2?

[@radianteclipse113]

I don't understand why anyone even makes a conversation about this. Who cares? If a game sells less copies than another, does that mean that you can't play the game or enjoy it? Huh? I'm confused. Why does anyone care about sales if you're not the ones making the game? We play the games, it's not our business how it's selling. I'm amazed anyone even thinks about a game's sales.

[@eclektric]

Because it cost money to make. A restaurant with really good food and no customers stops making really good food.

[@greghaggerty9996]

Because people like to see a game they enjoyed be sucessful. And because if you really liked a game but it sold poorly, the company might decide not to make more games like that in the future. People are rooting for FF7 Rebirth to sell well because the game is awesome and we want square to make more FF games like this. Seems like it's doing ok in this case, but if it had been a major flop then square might not have wanted to make more.

[@MarkHogan994]

You're not very bright.

[@hnorrstrom]

To be fair they should have simply releaed a pc and ps4 version as well and maximum one year after remake. Already remake on ps4 looked fantastic. They should simply have relessd a good enogh game for everyone that got remake and liked it. They would surely buy. I mean I wouldn't think anyone is stupid enough to buy the sequel but not the first game?! Now its all these ps5 nonsense and wait forever for the rest. Oh and the DLC shit for remake. I have simply bough other games instead and waiting for whenever/if rebirth comes on some steam sale in a few years. The hype is gone. And I will not buy a ps5 for like 3 games I would like to play on that system.. Or maybe...

[@FailroadExpress]

If it follows Remake, it should have a PC release in a few months. I'm hoping they announce it at the Game Awards.

[@hnorrstrom]

@FailroadExpress Yes, I hope you are right. Still I might even wait until a sale, since I have already waited so long anyways let's see.

[@burtcarter6313]

Of course by receiving the award it caused the game to upsale.

[@ezshottah3732]

Negative news makes the front page, that’s all it was

[@andruism7]

Really, Rebirth underperforming is largely because Remake’s success was so great that they set their sights too high. But setting a game that came out at the height of the pandemic as the bar to beat would doom pretty much any game.

[@israelruiz8706]

Yea not to mention the install base of ps4 was bigger than ps5. Then it's also a sequel and sequels tend to do less than the first game. Know a couple of people that bought ff7 remake but didn't like the change so they didn't get rebirth. Rebirth is a special case where no matter what it sold they have to do sales and get the game anywhere they can to actually get people hype for the third game as it would most likely do less than both ff7 remake and rebirth

[@FailroadExpress]

@@israelruiz8706 Very true. Sequels rarely out sale their predecessors.

[@FailroadExpress]

All good points.

[@mayrokspsn9068]

GOTY 2024 , one of the best Games ever made

[@FailroadExpress]

Indeed, it is.

[@ishaqxsamir]

Awesome Video man 🫡

[@FailroadExpress]

Thank you🫡

[@FailroadExpress]

Thank you🫡

[@dviceix]

it lost my shit at "Elden Ring: Shadow of the Turd Tree" idk if that was a real pronunciation mistake but i lmao xD

[@FailroadExpress]

I'm glad you enjoyed it! I was hoping people would take it lightheartedly.

[@dndamn]

Profit margins are what matter the most. The amount of copium i see fans of this game huffing is astonishing

[@metastase895]

Exactly. And let's not forget that part 3 will sell even less because that's how sequels work.

[@DrewStrife]

Game was fire just too much mini games

[@MarkHogan994]

They're optional. Don't do them.

[@DrewStrife]

@MarkHogan994 dude I love the game ,I'm not downing it ,but some are not like the dance one and when you make it to sol beach. I get it added to the game but they was a bit too many, I'm not only person who feels this way. Specially if you aiming for platinum which I got

[@shawnwilliams7757]

I want whatever you're smoking😂

[@josephcoffey2175]

Pass that sh*t lol

[@metastase895]

What is positive about Forspoken and false advertising a product as a remake to cash in on nostalgia?

[@josephcoffey2175]

@metastase895 I feel you there, brother 🫡

[@鼻バター]

PlayStation Grand award given to the paid PlayStation exclusive for selling well on the PlayStation platform is some 4D chess level of self congratulatory propaganda for the fans. To the investors: Foamstars, XVI, and Rebirth did not manage to make up for the shortfalls in profitability YoY. To the fans: IT SOLD FIFTY MILLION COPIES DAY ONE!!! THE WITCHER 3 CAN'T EVEN COMPETE. NOT ONLY WILL IT WIN GOTY IT'LL WIN BEST ONGOING GAME, BEST INNOVATION IN ACCESSIBILITY, BEST GAME FOR IMPACT, AND SO MUCH MORE!!!! SQUARE JUST KEEPS WINNING!!!! It's hilarious and fascinating to watch. I don't get why fans of this game in particular are so desperate for external validation of the quality of the game. Play it. Like it, Talk about it. But why let it get to you this deeply, good or bad? It's not healthy.

[@aeolussvichi7680]

I don’t know what you’re talking about. It seems to me like you’re the one who’s allowing it to get to you if your comment is any indication. As for the game, I’ve seen more FF fans criticizing the remake/rebirth than praising it because they feel it deviates from the OG so drastically. Now if you mean the media glazing it that’s another matter, but I don’t see the fans doing what you’re suggesting.

[@ghostofhallownest5300]

Bruh said the media glazed it when it was one of the most hated on games that scored a 92 ever. 🤡 on the right leaning stage tried to use politics to destroy it because they lean xbox and of course xbox crashed studios for 2 years straight and had no games. You are just yapping nonsense because you are in the latter camp. You more than likely did not play the game and are yapping seriously or you are clearly denying how much flack this game got. It scored a 92! A 92! And it got more flack than a game that was typical souls at an 88 with no new innovations. Contrarianism has to make sense in order for it to work. The glaze for stella blade was even worse and the game was dry and people still tried to destroy that game because it was a sony exclusive. We see the pattern here.

[@josetomascamposrobledano4618]

It’s isn’t GOTY. And it did underperform… BECAUSE THE GOAL IS EXPECTATIONS! People in the internet have brain rot. Now me personally. The evil person here is SE THEMSELVES! Their expectations weren’t achievable at all. And because of their decision of a trilogy the true math is this: “Sales of first game - people who left the 3 game train = sequel trophy”. A random newcomer will want to start with the first game. So the true way to “generate new sales” is adding more deals for the first game so that they jump to Rebirth later. Because many of us Day 1 Rebirth players are guaranteed 3rd game buyers. We spent too much time with this journey already. We have to see the ending.

[@ghostofhallownest5300]

Yap and it is goty cope

[@InstantLuka]

This cope at it hardest. example if the 2 top game of 3 top selling sold 10million and 3rd game only sell 1million. the 3rd game still be in the top 3 sell and still underpreform. It does not mean it sold to close to 10million like other 2 game above it. talk about Misinformation when we know the actually sale of the top 3 games.

[@FailroadExpress]

Trust me when I say there was a lot of misinformation revolving around SEs reason for downsizing and their Final Fantasy games. Without looking deeper into the articles, it was easy to believe that their Final Fantasies were the reason for their downsizing due to the FF images being plastered along with the article titles such as, "Final Fantasy maker sees income drop by 79%." Titles like that were misleading and people who just skimmed the titles ran with it.

[@dsjanc]

I notice lately, many videogame msm are in full force to defend SquareEnix, Sony... many DEI corps.

[@ghostofhallownest5300]

Stop the cope. No one defended SE many haters wanted this game to fail. Keep your inferior politics out of this. The game sat at a 92 metacritic and people were still trying to use propaganda to get at Sony. Weirdos.

[@Pikaru-c4u]

No they are. It’s game of the year from a rigged awards show. The gameplay loop was dreadful. Looking for a cope

[@josephcoffey2175]

Rebirth 💩

[@ghostofhallownest5300]

Nope rebirth goated. Metaphor is 💩

[@PurposeDriven7_]

Found the Elden ring fanboy