Square Enix Admits PS5 Exclusivity Was A DISASTER

It only took them three failed AAA games to realise.
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[@Teddy_L0ve]

You mean you sell more games when you release them to a larger market? Crazy stuff.

[@sonikz9033]

Weird right ? Elden Ring being on multiple platforms and selling shitload of copies and win goty couldve easily happened for ff7

[@jr91154]

Bruh they know this. Now that it’s gonna be on all consoles they’re going to almost triple sales predictions and they still won’t reach their goal. Square Enix always expects more sales than they get. Their stock would have increased immensely if no exclusivity was the easy fix for this. Also, it not being on PS4 and Xbox One makes a big difference two. I’m pretty sure most people still haven’t upgraded to next/current gen consoles so that right there is already a bunch of people that can’t buy the game even if they wanted to

[@sonikz9033]

​@@jr91154didnt even think about the older gen users your right

[@FeiFongWang]

Looks like Square realized that the amount of people willing to shill out $500 just to play yet another Final Fantasy VII game don't exist. Especially when everybody knows the game will just go multiplat in a year.

[@dane4073]

No just PC it should of been out everywhere day and date

[@Whywe.lovegames]

This generation has been a disaster.

[@mrdarkwing9747]

If things will stay like now the future will be too, if not worse

[@TheKennyboy92]

???

[@moviecrazed2208]

How?

[@Whywe.lovegames]

@@moviecrazed2208 ok heres a list: - Global pandemic impact that disrupted the launch of both consoles, games development timelines and supply chains. - Scalper issues - Lack of truly next gen games exclusives - Underutilized hardware potential (devs blame microsoft and their series S console for this) - Slowest start for a new gen of consoles ever - Consumer readiness, meaning that both Sony and Microsoft took steps to make sure previous gen hardware owners were not forced into upgrading A lot of this was noone fault, and some was just bad corporate decisions. And this is still going, Microsoft closing down studios and probably many projects that were being made is a testament of that. We still got some good stuff though, i celebrate cross platform as a generational win, and VR as an amazing achievement. But all in all, it has been disaster, or at the very least, a disappointment.

[@mrdarkwing9747]

There are far more problems but overall said the most neutral ones

[@rodneymathews6775]

I would say that SE should definitely do these four key things: 1. Stop with the ridiculously high sales expectations. 2. Bring their games to PC Day 1 and in the case of Rebirth, ASAP. 3. Reduce the price of Rebirth. 4. Get rid of a certain department that's prone to cause controversies.

[@zackkeogh3515]

1. XVI met initial expectations with three million in sales and then the sales petered out to be below expectations in the long run. Expectations are a range, not a single number. I don't think they had ridiculously high expectations for Rebirth. I just think they didn't expect Dragon's Dogma 2 to be outselling it. Not having a Steam PC port for Rebirth ready to go June 1st 2024 isn't helping things along for them.

[@dyingstar24]

Another publisher realizes that console exclusivity was a fad that died over a decade ago. At this point you guys should make a list

[@CodyWhiteMusic]

All companies should be multi platform, exclusivity is absolute bullshit. Less games for gamers to enjoy

[@brandonvanmeter]

I disagree. Exclusives gives the consumer a reason to invest in your ecosystem. You think i or many people would ever buy a nintendo console if we could get our Mario or Zelda fix on the much stronger xbox or ps5 consoles

[@elid2532]

​@@brandonvanmeterspoke nothing but facts. I'd sell my switch of I could play the exclusives elsewhere. There's always emulatiom but some times, I'm tryna play on my tv and not at my computer chair

[@Frank_Torre]

Honestly reminds me of how good the games were when they were SquareSoft before becoming SquareEnix. It's like their expecting every game to make GTA money, yet recent releases are bloated with filler or are DOA on release. It's like they can't be happy making half a billion dollars on a game that cost 100 million to make.

[@PeanutButterAndJellyBros]

Quit making games exclusive. This ain’t the old school era of gaming anymore.

[@ShakingMyHead295]

Only have an Xbox and would own the ff games if they’d been released for it

[@blackrahk2037]

SPIDER-MAN has sold million over 2 games. God of War sold 12 million in a month. Good games can be exclusive. Though I love the FF7 remakes I know that they are shamless cash grabs.

[@rhinox9292]

Sorry to break the news to everybody who thinks otherwise, but excuses aren’t “ old school “. As long as there is more than one home console there will always be exclusives. Halo/Gears/Forza is WHY you buy an XBOX, Horizon/Gran Turismo/God of War/Spider-Man is WHY you buy a PlayStation. Until the big three come together, and release the Nintendo X-Station we’re all gonna be divided and broke(or is that just me) 😅

[@johnnykend5728]

@@rhinox9292 No one wants to buy your stupid consoles, so games should be added on all platforms or they can go to hell with their exclusivity, cuz I never gonna waste my money onn console, just for that cool game. I rather wait for them to release on pc too.

[@SageVallant]

Square Enix: "Our AAA games aren't succeeding and our AA games aren't succeeding enough to make up for it. Therefore, we must stop making AA games and focus on AAA games." Apparently we need more Forspokens, more Babylon's Falls, and even more Final Fantasies. Because those are selling so wonderfully right now.

[@higgs923]

Exclusivity is another way consoles keep you from bolting when the manufacturers do something squirrely. Sooner or later you'll be watching unskippable ads because they know that you aren't easily going to ditch your console along with your investments in time and money. It's sad because the advantages of console gaming can be huge.

[@iamriven7940]

Like what? The only real advantage a console has are certain exclusive titles. Thats only for Nintendo and Playstation too. All Xbox games are available on pc. You could even go to Walmart now and buy a cheap gaming pc, so the price difference is almost negligible considering all that a pc can do.

[@toongrowner1]

@@iamriven7940 Reasons I play on console: 1) Not having to spend years of time and money to upgrade my pc so certain games are playable at all. 2) Can play on the comfort from my couch 3) I already do other stuff on my pc like artwork 4) I sometimes like to listen to youtube videos or show on my pc while I play on my console. Can't really do the same when I'm playing on pc

[@IngeniousGhosts]

​@toongrowner1 the only thing I'd add is cheating on PC games is way easier then on consoles.

[@mattshark7665]

@@iamriven7940a 4K gaming PC costs a lot more than a console.

[@PandaKnightsFightingDragons]

​@toongrowner1 1) a PC needs upgrades about as often as a new console generation releases 2) get a long enough HDMI chord and you can do this on PC 3) very fair to not want to play where you work 4) get another monitor

[@SmashBrosAssemble]

Sony went out of their way to make Final Fantasy exclusive to PlayStation, now SQEX realise that it’s not good for their business. I mean Final Fantasy 15, the last multi platform triple A FF release has sold more than FF7 Remake, Rebirth & FF16.

[@Shoelessjoe78]

That goes for everything. Console exclusive is bad business for developers. To say nothing about gamers.

[@MoonPhantom]

FF Remake + Rebirth are actually legit beloved. All the people who DID play these games, who are fans of the original FF7, loves what they did. Love all the care that went into it. So they should have sold sooooo well, and they shot themselves in the foot with this launch.

[@undertakernumberone1]

@@MoonPhantom "ALL THE PEOPLE WHO..." oh please... I played FF VII and HATED the Remake for truly dismal padding (only good added stuff was the Jessie story) and other calls made... and i really don't care about Rebirth. I might buy it on a 75% discount.

[@MoonPhantom]

@@undertakernumberone1 Everybody I talked to really liked it. So okay, you're the exception. Congratulations.

[@Ocapela215]

​@@undertakernumberone1 I agree. I miss turn based. Wasn't a fan of the added stuff. It didn't make sense until the ending, and by then I already checked out and just wanted to end it

[@johnhanzelyjr]

Surprise surprise.....AAA publishers expecting 20,000,000+ sales of a game...but only release it on ONE console. Hi-Fi rush studio was shut down...because the game didn't sell 20,000,000+ copies. It was X-Box exclusive...AND put on game pass....and Microsoft expected 20,000,000+ copies sold? The more you jack up sales expectations...the less sense it makes to release it one ONE CONSOLE ONLY.

[@raskolnikov6443]

This is just nonsense. You are acting like losing money isn’t a big deal for a business. This is not even about sales expectations but profitability.

[@johnhanzelyjr]

@@raskolnikov6443 I didn't say that. Hi-Fi rush was not a budget hog like many other games. The fact is...XBox spent over $70 BILLION getting Activision / Blizzard, and others. Now...they expect these studios to make games that sell 20 million copies....to make up for it. They also made the completely stupid decision to not only keep it XBox exclusive...but to also put it for FREE on Game Pass. Clearely....it didn't sell as many as what Microsoft wanted...gee...I wonder why? Microsoft put themselves in this position by doing what they did....and smaller studios and devs are paying the price. There was a REASON the FTC questioned (and were thinking about blocking) Microsoft about all the acquisitions they were doing....and that's exactly what happened. They now gotta cover their $70+ Billion spending spree for the shareholders......sdo they are shutting down studios they said they WOULDN'T shut down to try to make that smaller....and lying to everybody as to WHY they are doing so. The very sad part...Microsoft now gets to keep all those IPs...and PROFIT off them...while the devs who made them get nothing from them. You can't spend $300,000,000+ on a game...and release it only on ONE console expecting to sell 10,000,000 copies.....but that's the outrageous expectations AAA Publishers have....even going so far at trying any form of monetization (EA putting un-skipable in-game ads in game...that will eventually be intrusive and as bad as internet and TV ads.)

[@kamurotetsu4860]

Releasing on one console is working for Nintendo, more than ever before. It has more to do with the fact Final Fantasy is slow, dying franchise and has trouble competing with current RPG offerings.

[@johnhanzelyjr]

@@kamurotetsu4860 Well..Nintendo is a first party publisher...Square-enix a THIRD Party Publisher. Besides...I think part of the reason Final Fantasy is "not doing as well anymore"...is they are copying other popular games...and not being innovative. FFXV => GTA, FFXVI +> DMC, FFXII => MMO, ect. They've been doing this since after FFXI. Heck..FFXVI had no party to control!....and that was there since the very first game! They need to go back to what people loved (or be more innovative) about FF....not copy what's "popular" at the time. There's also the fact that Nintendo doesn't blow $500,000,000+ on development (and doesn't require the games to be installed from the cartridge...nor required Day-1 Patches.)...so..they don't need to sell 20,000,000+ copies to be profitable....but all other AAA Studios do....put them on ONE console...and expect to sell 30,000,000+ copies just to be profitable. They also are not putting them up for free, day-1, through a subscription like Microsoft is doing (which was a stupid idea to begin with, because it KILLS sales....like what happened with Hi-Fi rush). Nintendo's First-Party games tend to be BETTER than the others, even if they are not as "realistic-looking" as the others. I've always been on the stance that games don't need to blow $250,000,000+ on looking realistic, but still be great games (I know a small handfull will disagree....because that's what THEY want from graphics). I use Mega Man as an example. It's only 8-Bit...but the levels all look great and unique, and the gameplay is fun. Yes..game development costs have gone up...but how much it has is by choice. When you spend $250,000,000+ just because you want to make grass look realistic....that's a CHOICE.

[@KyleSetFire]

So many essays. This guy is wayyyyy too emotionally invested in this.

[@moviecrazed2208]

I don't really care about exclusives to be honest. Give the final fabtasy games to everyone. I loved final fantasy 7 (haven't played rebirth yet). If more people get to play them, do it. As long as the quality is still there!

[@theREALfearsKLOWNs]

Huh... you mean, bottlenecking accessibility and alienating 2/3 of your installed audience leads to disappointing sales figures?? You don't say, Squeenix...!? 🙄😮‍💨

[@Qballiz2kool]

Oh NOW they’re going to pursue a multi platform approach……

[@johnnykend5728]

They should done that a long time ago. -_-

[@Molybed1]

All that 24/7 shilling and paid reviews couldn't prevent FF7 Rebirth from BOMBING. Now Square Enix has to go "multiplatform" and the company is a sinking ship that will likely not survive the next 5 years. Too late. FF has already been destroyed by dumb exclusivity deals and bad management. Also good luck with the Final Fantasy franchise competing DIRECTLY with Pokemon, Ring Fit Adventure, Zelda and Xenoblade on a Nintendo console. Who the F*** at S-E thinks that the Nintendo audience is going to care about a STALE Final Fantasy franchise when they have those 4 RPGs to look forward to? What marketing are they going to use to try to sell that Final Fantasy garbage to Nintendo fans? "Muh Graffix?" Good luck.

[@stripedrajang3571]

You believe the Final Fantasy franchise is stale and garbage?

[@PLAYER_42069]

Here are the numbers for the recent FF games: FF15 (2015) sold 3 million units the first week and ended a seven year run with 10 million units in 2022. Various reports claim FF16 sold 3 million at launch, and FFRB sold 2.5 million thus far. It's very clear FF has been in decline over the last decade, but SE had no choice but to put all their exclusive eggs in one basket since they've sold off all there other successful IPs like Tomb Raider. If it wasn't for FF14 (MMO), SE would probably file Chapter 11, for better or worse. This also speaks to a big issue the industry and even some gamers don't want to admit and that is older franchise just don't appeal to younger audiences. It sounds logical, but it's largely ignored due to remakes, remasters and reboots. We need new IPs - Good IPs, not those like Forespoken - To interest the next generation of gamers because some of the big AAA franchises are going on 30+ years now, but they obviously aren't as popular as SE hopes.

[@SoranotRoxas]

*Stop with the exclusive nonesense.* It was fun in the early days but people are over this crap. Time to grow up, and make big boy decisions that don't cost people their jobs 🙄

[@Advorsaeresdocet]

So what happens to part 3 now? Wish SE would give some clarity as to where the direction for part 3 is going now

[@quicoboy]

...Shantyman!...good thing you and Red have good convos, cuz I'd be out just for not knowin "a" shanty...lol...but I'll let y'all cook...you DO have interestin topics...keep up the great work, guys...

[@Alushaun]

I wonder if companies would be as inclined to layoff mass employees if it would directly reduce the ability to sell games moving forward.

[@SmashBrosAssemble]

“No big titles that can lift up the company’s top line over the next couple of years.” So yeah Kingdom Hearts fans, you ain’t getting KH4 for quite a while.

[@MrLeerolljankins]

I’m not even surprised at this point took nearly 2 damn decades just to get kingdom hearts 3 and it was a letdown

[@BewareTheLilyOfTheValley]

That's fine, I'll wait. Just so long as they don't put crucial story information on a frickin mobile game. I don't want to play those and they disappear quickly, leaving you with no physical item to replay, if you wish.

[@DMBLaan]

Hate to say it, but when they got the new CEO, they still said they wanted NFTs and AI games, so I don't think that has changed.

[@mauvecloud0]

If they're serious about ending ps5 exclusivity, why haven't they announced even a tentative Windows release date for FF16? The timed exclusivity on that already ended, what, 4 and a half months ago? I tried the demo and didn't enjoy it that much myself, but the continued lack of PC port for it leaves me skeptical about other titles getting ported anytime soon.

[@Whywe.lovegames]

Lets not forget that part of the problem of cross platform with xbox in this Gen, is that microsoft makes mandatory to realease games in both Series S and X, and series S is basically a shitbox pulling the whole generation down.

[@DwillGame]

They can get special permission like bg3

[@vintageoriginallegit]

Not anymore outdated info

[@Whywe.lovegames]

They did though didn't they? And given the lenghty videogame process, it fucked the whole gen. We're like 5 years in. They might have taken that restrain away too late.

[@zanezet]

It has to release on both but for some games they do allow taking away feature parody between s and x. Which just means the s users get less of a game.

[@theshadowdirector]

I really don't see how this announcement means much unless they do intend to bring more AAA games to the next Nintendo platform. They've already been putting stuff on PC, and how much do they realistically expect from Xbox at this point? Nintendo is definitely their missing link with their native Japanese base. It really depends how they approach developing the next few games, design them to be more scalable, if the art design is up to scratch then I don't know how much people will care about the next big final fantasy perhaps not pushing the limitations of hair follicles you can render it once.

[@jaeusa160]

@3:25 Exclusivity argument dies while PC gaming exists. Furthermore, let's be blunt, Nintendo's relying a lot on cartoony art style in their exclusives because their hardware is so often weaker and far behind the competition. That has always been the case whenever they've had competition in the same generation. Genesis was stronger than SNES, Game Gear may have been a 5lb brick to lug around but it had graphics far above the Gameboy models of the same era, Switch is cute as a gimmick but Genshin Impact showed phones beat Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom on graphics... Nintendo exclusivity won't die anytime soon, but for their sake they should really put SOME effort into their hardware at some point. They can't rely on their competition crashing on its own like Sega did forever.

[@lxfenix]

Square: You wanna play our games? BUY A PLAYSTATION! LOL! Also Square: Where money?

[@pyu771]

Lets not create the narrative that it's Sony's fault. Square has ALWAYS taken the bag based on who was doing better in the market. This goes all the way back to the 4th Gen.

[@mappybc6097]

Sigh. Didn't anyone actually *read* Takashi Kiryu's message to investors? He never singled out Sony, not once. Maybe because Nintendo also had several SE exclusives like the entire Bravely Default series, the first Octopath for an entire year, Triangle Strategy, and the Dragon Quest 3 HD remake. He also, again, never once mentioned what he meant by multiplatform. SE already had games on Xbox, like FF8, 10, 12, 13, and 15, the entire Kingdom Hearts series, and Octopath Traveller. Guess what? It didn't help them one bit, because no one in Xbox Land actually buys games when Gamepass exists.

[@shanewright9489]

Wish there were No console exclusive games. Need to be in all systems

[@mrdarkwing9747]

Like current generation of consoles is probably like 2nd most depressing moment in home gaming... but only because nothing will beat "E.T. incident". Freakin early PS3, Wii U, Vita were in better state than this shithole. imo

[@vincesiy1403]

Aside from being exclusive to ps5 that surely hurt its sales since most people will not buy a ps5 just to play a game, the problem with final fantasy 7 is their greed of making it a trilogy instead of making a very very great single release. Part 1 was mostly driven by hunger from nostalgia but people now feel kind of tired of really having to wait and buy several part of a game just to finish it. After most people's nostalgia fix was sated by part 1 not many are as eager to rush to get the 2nd one. A lot like me is just planning to maybe buy a combined trilogy pack in the future once the game is finished all the way to the end.

[@IncogNegroGaming]

Exclusives are dumb af. Why wouldnt you want to make literally 3 times the money from putting it on other platforms? Never understood stupid playstation exclusives for the last, what 20 years?

[@UnifiedEntity]

Exclusivity is a factor to promote competition for one console over another.

[@mattshark7665]

Because it doesn’t always work like that. Firstly, exclusives sell consoles. This is good for platform holders and make it worthwhile for them. Sometimes the cost on publishing a certain platform is more expensive than the potential revenue. There can be limits in regards to a systems capability. Also, the biggest issue SE have had is crap live services and wasting money on NFT nonsense.

[@mattshark7665]

@@weplayvrgamesthird party exclusivity is often the way games get funded.

[@AlexanderBrown-lz4rg]

Exclusivity is expensive. SE most than likely got a juicy paycheck or another type of financial support from Sony. What really hurt SE was Forspoken and they were counting on ReBirth to make up for that disaster. It did not. To be fair even sony is a multiplat publisher right now , why shouldnt SE?

[@brandonvanmeter]

I think Playstation and XBox are gonna be put out of business eventually by this push to make everything coming to pc also. As a consumer if you can get the best of both worlds and they just perform to the best of your machines ability then why would you put yourself in a closed ecosystem where you have to pay to play online with your friends

[@Kaifighter]

Because PC gaming is a more involved, generally more expensive though not always, process that for a large portion of the population creates more stress for a hobby that should be anything but. That's why xbox's next gen are likely to just be mid powered PC's in practicality just with a simple, gaming/home entertainment focused OS

[@BewareTheLilyOfTheValley]

​@@Kaifighter Exactly. I like the ease of a console. Even with the shortages caused from the PS5 during the pandemic, for example, that was still just one package that was in short stock (that the consumer had to buy, anyways). For PC's, you now have to first learn how to build them, learn how to do your own IT when things inevitably go wrong, buy all of the parts, and better hope everyone hasn't bought all of one or many parts that you are needing and now are stuck waiting on to be available again. Or, hell, hope that it's even sold in your country! Nevermind trying to get phone tech support for all these various components (I'm reminded of a hilariously sad video from a creator named Super Eyepatch Wolf and his battle to build his own PC for the first time in Ireland. Just one small mistake, forgetting to get an internet card, caused everything to spiral out of control for him). Making PC only games would kill the industry, not bolster it. I would stop playing video games as a whole because that is just not a comfortable mode of gaming for me.

[@me5969]

Not really. Consoles are convenient. I've got a PC knocking around somewhere but I honestly stopped bothering with it when we got a new house. Games are rarely optimised for it and it's just a lot of faffing about if you don't know what you're doing. I myself only got one because my mate builds them and it still cost around 1K just for parts. Most people don't know or care enough especially if you have other things going on. I'm a 34 year old man with a wife, a 10 year old son, a 14 year old daughter and a full time job like most adults. No one's going to bother getting a rig just to play on it during the odd holiday you have booked off while the kids are in school and the wifes in work. Same for kids. Some single mum who doesn't know anything about video games isn't going to get her son a PC. Now I'm not bagging on PC. I know how upset nonces get over this stuff but I'm just saying the convenience of consoles is why they're so successful.

[@johnhanzelyjr]

Wait until you have to pay for PS Plus to play Sony published games...especially online. Then...ALL AAA Publishers will follow suit and require a paid subscription to play their games.....just like what they're doing on consoles.

[@karenobrian4371]

Many players say GTA online and Red Dead online are unplayable on PC because modders are out of control...

[@luisseph6348]

When you have Capcom for their 7th straight year on profit and multiplatform releasing single player bangers 0ne after the another....You really start to think WTF are you doing with your life as SquareEnix.

[@AbimaelTurcios3040]

Well exclusives don't help consumer's but corporations. Took them long enough to realize their mistakes. Not everyone is gonna drop 500$ to play one game. Those 500$ could've been used for something else.

[@Terryhunt385]

Other than the missing Final Fantasy main titles, I want to see the Pixel Perfect Collection finally jump to Xbox. I have it on the Switch, but if it came to XBX (I do not have Steam), I would buy it again, just for the achievements.

[@dreamseeker2346]

Hopefully this means that they will make releases for other consoles and maybe even PS4, not everyone has a PS5 bc most games are still available on PS4 as well as other consoles.

[@archangel2015]

The multi-platform thing didn’t work for them when they tried before during the 360 era, final fantasy 13 was a utter s**t show and thats when they went back to Sony and PC exclusives. I honestly don’t think this is going to fix the problems square enix has.

[@ralphengland8559]

With soooo many Playstations sold, exclusivity to Sony seems like it should have been fine. If exclusives can't work, then the industry is in real trouble...

[@clarkh5390]

Only 30% of people finished Remake. Don’t think those who didn’t ran out to get Rebirth?

[@therapcave]

Maybe they should put the game on ps4 and the Xbox’s so more people can BUY THE DAMN GAME. Remake was on ps4 and it ran fine. What is the point of not selling it to more people?

[@thaneros]

Trying to make the game 'console sellers' most likely

[@grrrmuffman]

At what point is someone in the c suite at square enix going to ask....which analysts projected the sales for these games over the the last 10 years and fire them and the person that hired them for blatant incompetence...no idea how they keep their jobs after a decade of fk ups!

[@grrrmuffman]

...rant continued.....if a car mechanic estimates a job to be £200 then tells me it actually is going to cost £10,000 they'd quickly find out they aren't getting paid £10,000 and I wouldn't go back to them let alone continue to go back to them for a decade...same principle

[@SiincereARC]

Firstly, when this game was announced, a decade ago, I was all in for it. I knew I would give them all my money. Then the decade was coming to a close and it was announced that it would strictly come for PS4. Once that happened, I knew I stopped caring. I was never going to get the PS4 (I've fully converted to either retro consoles or PC ports). Then just like with Horizons, they mentioned 7 remake showing up on PC. I was then happy. As someone who is no stranger to "sailing the high seas", I had no intention to give these companies my money without enough proof that didn't f*ck up the game. The other option being, wait until a deluxe version comes out and purchase that version. Then they decide, lets made the second game exclusive and MAYBE provide a PC port. Again, I will not buy a PS4/PS5. So, they lost a customer who had been waiting for a remake since the earlier 2000s. Also, their excuse might work for not making an Xbox or Switch version but for a PC port? Are you smoking pixie dust? If anything, the FF7 Remake series would highly benefit from a PC port. Especially after including mods into the equation.

[@mikeymacaque]

I’ve got $200 just waiting around for Square to properly release a physical copy of the Pixel Remasters on Switch and PS4.

[@Molybed1]

Nintendo is NOT the savior of FF. It will be its DEATH. Putting FF on a Nintendo console where Zelda is selling 30 million copies is like Ford Lincoln opening a dealership in Japan and trying to compete with Lexus.

[@Paul_McSeol]

Totally distracted by seeing Scott in a Knicks shirt. Love it.

[@Lynxan]

Sure, when are they going to get there budgets under control. That is what is killing them more than anything.

[@ccallaghan84]

Life on the Xbox isn't exactly roses and rainbows. My biggest issue was the combat wasn't great. I literally beat rebirth with 95% mashing s single button. There was no real strategy or planning needed for most of it. I think that hurt them more than exclusivity. God of war didn't hurt from exclusivity.

[@mattshark7665]

I still like Forspoken. I think more than anything, SE have ridiculous expectations.

[@SorceressHeart]

Me too! The first couple of hours were very slow but once I got into it, I loved it.

[@Pawsum1tiger]

I say there should be no more third-party exclusives across the board. Used your own studios to build your system catalog and let the third party be for every one

[@kevinclapson]

Its less an issue of fallout from them being a shill for Sony and mors and issue of making games people aren't terribly interetsed in, using insanely expensive means of development. Going multiplat would help with reach, but it won't help you with your product.

[@ELZ00M]

Well, now I can feel better since they made FFVII hard mode practically unbeatable garbage. Hope plenty lose their job for this move

[@illyria000]

SE finally realising they're here to sell games, and not helping Sony sell consoles

[@jesselewis9748]

Square enix lost money due to canceled projects not because final fantasy didn't sell enough, its literally in the report

[@thebiggestgarlic1194]

Why did they cancel those projects in the first place? Surely it can't be because their games are doing amazing, right? Why would they lower their output if the company is doing so well? No. The major exclusivesFF's not selling is one of the reasons why they're drastically changing their plans. Square has since came out and stated that none of the exclusive FF's met a satisfactory sales target.

[@vault29a]

​@@thebiggestgarlic1194its mobile games and ff14 player decline. The only things that are in "green" are ps5 exclusives. Read the report mate.

[@thebiggestgarlic1194]

@vault29a I've read the report. They also said that big titles released on Playstation fell short of expectations. If it was only because of mobile and canceled games, then they wouldn't have drastically changed their business plans and go full multiplatform? The fact is, the games aren't selling enough on Playstation alone.

[@TheKennyboy92]

I know it is crazy how they are not reading it clearly

[@vault29a]

@@thebiggestgarlic1194 they do and ff7 trilogy remains playstation exclusive.

[@rmcgowa1987]

Being now a primarily PC gamer I can say I hate console exclusivity and almost always get games on pc or wait for them as my pc will almost always run all these games better if they don't screw up the ports. I haven't touched by xbox one or ps4 in years and haven't even thought of buying the new xbox or ps5 and have never regretted this decision. PC truly is master race in most respects if you are willing to spend the money you can get the convenience of controller for most games now.

[@alexk9295]

I don't think it's the Sony exclusivity that hurts SquareEnix. It has to be the games. So exclusivity suited Square fine ever since the PS1 and now it was a mistake? Maybe just make games that people really want to play. If Foamstars was as succesful as Helldivers and Forspoken was on par with Stellar Blade we wouldn't be having this conversation. Not saying they shouldn't go full multiplat, in fact please do, but it's not the cause of their current decline. It's their games

[@undertakernumberone1]

Square Enix has absurdly high sales expectations. the games can make a good profit but it wouldn't be enough for the suits.

[@The3rownie]

One thing I hated about the game was all of the mini games/side quests. Ik it’s an RPG, but they did too much with that maybe because it’s single-player. Ik it sounds like a stretch for FF7, but I wish they could somehow incorporate multiplayer in the last pt maybe that’ll make people more engaged and wanting to play

[@RH-beefhemoth]

I’m only interested in FFXVI anyway

[@Vincornelis]

Meanwhile the latest report has playstation outselling xbox 5 to 1 in the last quarter. With those numbers I'm not sure what going multiplatform would bring especially as some retailers are no longer stocking xbox cause they can't get it sold.

[@infernas]

Even if true, that's still 20% of the playerbase that potentially adds revenue. However much Sony is paying Square Enix for exclusivity, I don't think it amounts to 20% of the Sony market, do you?

[@drewtheunspoken3988]

It may not be a big boost on Xbox but having their games on PC might give them a significant boost. Or it may not. I think there were more issues than exclusivity but none of these channels want to delve into it.

[@undertakernumberone1]

@@drewtheunspoken3988 I think the main issue is that Square Enix, from what we've heard back with Tomb Raider and such, just has ludicrous expectations for sales. A game can sell very well and make a profit, and it would have underperformed. The suits at SE are just utterly out of touch.

[@drewtheunspoken3988]

@@undertakernumberone1 Almost delusionally so.

[@Vincornelis]

@@undertakernumberone1 indeed while Rebirth definitely undersold quite a lot compared to Remake it's still the 4th best selling game of the year last I heard.

[@FrancescoBianchiTaliesin]

I wonder how much are they paying economists and data analysis experts to reach for this incredible result that we players could've predicted 10 years ago. If the only added value of a console is its exclusives... There's no real added value. Now give us Bloodborne on PC.

[@matrixguardian4539]

Does this mean FFXVI and FF7R will come to the Series SX and Steam after all?

[@raskolnikov6443]

Possibly

[@runamerone5492]

that is not what they said. And what about all the Nintendo exclusives? And even if they did, the exclusivity was not the issue. you think Xbox people are just going to suddenly start....buying games? ESPECIALLY Japanese games. with a smaller install base? These games were always going to sell best on the consoles they came out on, and porting them to other consoles would have had a minimal impact on sales. WHY FFVII Remake/Rebirth did as poorly as They did I do not know since they're long awaited and much beloved but that's not the conversation here.

[@MrLeerolljankins]

Because pony’s don’t buy games either they spend more time wasting their time console warring on twitter than they do actually buying and playing games

[@SolidPython2099]

What about Nintendo exclusives? They're actually selling and making ROI for SE unlike the Playstation ones lmao

[@The3rownie]

Idk the game was so lengthy and packed that I think that it burnt a lot of people out. They had so many side quests/mini games. They need to focus more on the actual story and perhaps add in multiplayer as an option, Ik it’s not FF7 style, but I think that would make it more fun than just a single-player experience like they were used to back in the day. I think the newer gen would respond better to that type of engagement. Weren’t there also rumours of FF7 collabing with Fortnite? Why didn’t that end up happening, I mean the year Rebirth comes out wouldn’t you want more exposure that way?

[@OverhaulTwenty26-ts7wn]

Is it live a live or live a live as in live alive?

[@Mazrim]

Put your games in high quality on the PC and I will buy them, otherwise bye

[@Papai_Pai]

I love the Final Fantasy games and I think they should be enjoyed by everybody. Just like what's happened to Bethesda by going pure Xbox they've already closed down multiple Studios

[@tokiwartuthe]

Well who would've thought that keeping your games, that you sell for money, off 3 other platforms wouldn't nake as much money as selling them on 1 platform

[@Ardyrezv]

I remember when os5 came out I tried to get it for like a month and it was very hard. Forgot about it and haven’t considered buying one since. Don’t think I’ll ever buy a non Nintendo console ever again lmfao

[@jcdenton41100]

Nintendo is one of the reasons square is in the position they are in. Nintendo has had more square exclusives since 2020 than playstation has had.

[@Ardyrezv]

@@jcdenton41100 party platform. Anything else I would just wait for pc

[@Doomguy666.-ob3vc]

Good its what you get for being so loyal to sony its damaged there company. Looking down on other platforms like they always have. They deserve it.

[@sophiathekitty]

I don't really care about any of the new final fantasy games... Would be cool if the pixel remasters came to game pass. I kinda wanna replay 6... But not enough to put much effort into figuring out how I could do that.... Like if I put effort into it I want access to dev tools...

[@runamerone5492]

I mean you could fucking buy it. It's on Switch, PS, and Steam.

[@fenrirsfolly92]

@@runamerone5492 u know they’re gonna put more games on Xbox now too right?, hell if their Nintendo exclusives don’t have a permanent exclusive contract then they’re fair game for ports as well

[@madicemann]

Stellar Blade is exclusive, did ok

[@Diggi1027]

mmmm exclusivity is a "disaster" for all companies due to the way the industry is as a whole. This happening because we do not have competition between the "powerhouses" of the big 3. You can bet Nintendo is not putting their games on other consoles or PC for that matter.

[@raskolnikov6443]

Because their development costs are much lower (though also rising).

[@newchtron5680]

Have Square Enix ever met their sales expectations? At some point you'd think they'd consider having realistic expectations.

[@raskolnikov6443]

They don’t want to lose money

[@Bman32x]

Good. Tired of console exclusivity and not having cross play between consoles. Mainly if this leads to native hard copy kingdom hearts for switch & other FF games I’ll be happy.

[@BGrimmart]

Wait a minute so you're telling me when you put a game on more consoles, more people can buy it, and the sales will be better?!

[@RikyBuns]

I wanted to buy FFXVI and play it but because it only came out on PS5 which I didn't get due to the scalper situation I just watched a walkthrough and now I know the story and probably won't ever buy it.

[@kevinthunder3375]

Final Fantasy is the least of their problems. Its everything else.

[@mortifagotenebroso]

How about selling finished games instead of post-launch stuff (FF XV bunch of crossmedia), emotional / well-paced games (unlike XVI), or stop milking FF VII into an unnecessary trilogy with detrimental graphic performance?

[@travisleonhart3371]

Looks like pc is going to be my option for all square games going forward thank gosh

[@damnyoukira]

Square has focused on the US because it’s the biggest game market but the difference between Xbox and PlayStation isn’t as great as it is in the Asian and European markets.

[@Global.YouTube]

Chrono trigger 2 Vagrant Story Remake Vagrant Story 2 FF6 2 (movie?) FF6 Remake Dragon Quest Einhander Remake Parasite Eve Dissidia Remaster Other movies, less merch.

[@ricardodutton1912]

Making it a PS5 exclusive was a dick move.

[@falconeagle3655]

Yeah who would have guessed

[@bowen3716]

Can we get ff13 on playstation then?

[@cmdrls212]

Finally final fantasy will be free from Sony. The day cannot change me soon enough.

[@ombra711]

No. The games are compelling. Stellar Blade proves it works, I was exhausted after playing FF7Renake I was not going through it again for Rebirth. All Square Enix games should have been day and date on PS5 and PC worldwide, Xbox isn't even a factor in Japan.

[@lumberbrain]

Console exclusivity is stupid. All it does is hurt everybody; developers, publishers, and most importantly..the gamers.

[@graduator14]

Mario needs to be cross-console!

[@LightNight2]

Why is the gaming industry on fire

[@mattshark7665]

Because publishers are ran by people who are without brains.

[@justin747]

BS Xbot bait headline. Most of Squenix’s exclusive are on the Switch

[@raskolnikov6443]

Not relevant. The explicitly named the FF rebirth and FFXVI. Those are PlayStation exclusives and their most expensive AAA games production wise. That’s what they mean with their change of strategy.

[@justin747]

@@raskolnikov6443 The video title is “Square Enix admits PS5 exclusivity was a DISASTER” which is not true according to all the statement released This is Xbot bait. The losers still sticking with Xbox as it does a slow death flock to videos like this.

[@justin747]

@@raskolnikov6443 Give it up Xbot. Your console is dying.

[@kevinthunder3375]

​@@raskolnikov6443the problem isn't FF. They sold good, but their other games failed. Those games add up. They expected XVI and Rebirth to work miracles for them.

[@joels5150]

Bloodborne has entered the chat.

[@Molybed1]

Exclusivity is NOT the problem. The problem is that Final Fantasy SUCKS. The biggest selling game this generation is an EXCLUSIVE that is not even on PC and it is still selling millions of copies every year to this day IN EVERY REGION OF THE WORLD. Guess what is is? Here is a hint.... Mario Kart

[@kevinthunder3375]

Nintendo peeps have low standards. I have a Nintendo too and I would never dare buy that, especially full price for a decade old game.

[@StingNicks]

They need to do PC ( and Series X maybe) day 1. time to drop last gen (ps4) now so having to downgrade games dont bring curent gen down so much.

[@AHMEDSONICMOE-E.Bravery7]

Exclusivity is a double edged sword

[@TheKennyboy92]

What are you reading?? Their financials literally showed they would be NOWHERE without the sales of Rebirth and FF16

[@GodofGoblins]

Official statements from Ceo apparently confirmed otherwise. Square also said that ff16 sold fine, but they wished it hit higher margins. That doesn't scream confidence in there sales figures. It's not bad, but not amazing either. Rebirth, it's confirmed didn't sell as well as remake, especially in the east. As max dood pointed out (someone who loves rebirth), ff14 and dragon quest series are the main money makers for them right now. That is what is keeping them afloat. I'd send links but youtube takes them down. You can find the numbers and statements online if you look though. Saddens me, I love ff16 and rebirth but it is what it is.

[@TheKennyboy92]

@@GodofGoblins so not a disaster??

[@GodofGoblins]

@@TheKennyboy92 Id call it a serious factor. The disaster is everything involved, not just the exclusivity

[@kevinthunder3375]

​@@GodofGoblinstheir other games bombed. FF sold good, but the other games all bombed. That's expensive.

[@GodofGoblins]

@@kevinthunder3375 according to square themselves, the final fantasy titles didn't hit the margins they anticipated or wanted. That doesn't scream good to me. Those are there words, not mine. I loved rebirth and 16, but gotta keep it real

[@DonkThikkness]

Square Enix needs to admit that their stupid pretentious stories are not going to appeal to the masses and sell 20M units like they expect.

[@jonaldbmendoza]

The prodigal son returns to Ninttendo ... 😂

[@SamuraiFoochs]

WC one video: XBOX IS DYING WC next video: Square Enix admits not being multi platform is a disaster for the company

[@ominiouspressence4853]

No, Square Enix itself is a disaster