Forum - View topicNEWS: Japan's Video Game Rankings, February 26-March 3
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Silver Kirin
Posts: 1122 |
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Those are quite low numbers for a Final Fantasy title, especially for such an anticipated title, Rebirth may be a sequel to Remake, but it is a fully AAA experience, and it sold 60% less than Part 1 and 22% less than XVI. I've in other sales discussions in other sites and they haven't been this active in a long time. I know that we don't have digital sales figures, but Japan tends to favor physical sales and I don't think that even counting digital sales that they're above the ones for FFVII Remake
Just for comparison, this is what previous FF games have managed to sell in their debut week in Japan in the past: FFIII [FC] = 394.719; FFIV [SFC] = 112.440; FFV [SFC] = 288.439; FFVI [SFC] = 1.154.360; FFVII [PS] = 2.034.8879; FFVIII [PS] = 2.504.044; FF IX [PS] = 1.954.421; FFX [PS2] = 1.749.737; FFX-2 [PS2] = 1.472.914; FFXII [PS2] = 1.840.397; FFXIII [PS3] = 1.516.532; FFXIII-2 [PS3] = 605.660; Lightning Returns FFXIII [PS3] = 301.181; FFXV [PS4] = 716.649; FFVII Remake [PS4] = 702.853; FFXVI [PS5] = 336.027. I think it'd appropriate to compre it to other S-E games: Kingdom Hearts III [PS4] = 640.406; Dragon Quest XI S [NSW] = 303.204; DQ Monsters 3 [NSW] = 346.583; Super Mario RPG [NSW] = 301.334. A lot has been argued about the decline of the FF series in Japan, most of the blame could be atributed to the fact that the PS5 is not the dominant console in the country, perhaps people weren't too happy with the changes made in Remake, a shifting demographic, young gamers not caring much about FFVII or FF in genral, that S-E made the game for Western players in mind, etc. Now, I don't think having an Xbox version would have improved things in Japan, but I think that might hurt Rebirth's sales a bit at an international level, especially considering the recent article that mentioned that the whole FFVII Remake project could have a very prolonged exclusivity deal with Sony. But I don't think that even if Remake and Switch could run on the Switch 2 things can improve, at least in Japan. The sales for Rebirth are going to be carried by the International market It also surprises me that the Switch was the best-selling console for the week, usually when a tentpole game like VII Rebirth arrives its main console tends to have a surge in sales. |
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MFrontier
Posts: 11298 |
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Not too surprising!
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funkfoot
Posts: 42 |
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Taking it at face value (i.e. not discussing digital sales and if they compensate for the overall numbers) I'd say it's not surprising at all. Traditionally, Final Fantasy sequels have always sold less than the previous games. X-2 sold less than X, XIII-2 sold less than XIII and Lightning Returns sold even less than that. There was always going to be diminishing returns. Especially in this case where I imagine a lot of the initial sales for Remake were under the assumption it was going to be an actual remake and not the alternate reality sequel we ended up getting which upset some people. People who did not care for that left. People who just didn't like the game left. People who did like the game but still moved on to other things left. I feel it's a natural decline that was expected. I think it's all ultimately outweighed by the fact these sequels re-use the existing production assets so they're going to be faster and cheaper to produce so they don't need to sell as much to make a profit. |
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CrypticPurpose
 Posts: 324 |
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It always amazes me how long older titles remain high in the sales charts in Japan.
I feel like in the US, game sales are closer to theatrical movie releases - you get your opening weekend/pre-orders+release-day sales, then you get a month or so of good, but steadily decreasing sales, and then your numbers drop into the abyss, as new titles take their place. But in Japan, some titles just keep selling and selling, to the point that I have started to wonder if some people just eat them for sustenance. |
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Rob19ny
Posts: 1673 |
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SE marketed this game in Japan as if it was a 1m seller. They were right to do it because of Remake selling 1m in 3 days in Japan, but this outcome changes things for the next title. All blame goes to Sony for creating the most boring expensive illogical PS console ever to release in Japan. A console that just sells hardware from unknown buyers around the world and outsells its predecessor launch aligned yet the software is abysmal, so abysmal the PS4 version of games still outsold it or competed or had better legs than it up to this year. Plus, a major game like FF16 having 330k software number with lower PS5 LTD, but just over half a year later, another major game (Rebirth) comes out and has lower software number despite the PS5 has higher LTD. This same thing happened in pre-orders at COMG, which PS is dying at. Majority of PS4 owners were definitely forced to go elsewhere (that's not called Xbox) or they are hoping the PS5 stops getting price increases way above the launch price and actually go below the launch price before buying it. Regardless, PS5 is not a entry friendly console for dedicated PS fans or potential PS consumers. Sony needs to make a smart decision with the PS6. Nothing is saving the PS5 in Japan and continuing to neglect Japan makes it worse. Andrew House was a great guy for Sony. He cared for Japan and did try to make the PS4 attractive for JP fans even going so far as to delay its release in Japan because the software was not up to standard for them. 2018 was the start of bad things to come.
Oh, look. RGG8 PS5 is starting to have better legs than the night console now. As expected for Intergrade to return.
1. The last time Xbox received Final Fantasy sequels (13-2 & Lightning Returns) was during Xbox's greatest generation: Xbox 360. The sequels on 360 sold like crap while the PS3 version had to carry both games. Xbox has declined since 360. It would have contributed pocket change to Rebirth. If FF7 on its strongest platform (PS) had a decline or severe decline then Xbox numbers would be infinitely worse on a worldwide level. This is why Xbox has no leverage to get FF on Day 1 after FFXV. Phil has to beg and pay SE get them (or SE's JP games in general) ported to Xbox. 2. I expected you to mention that article and most definitely expected you to not be updated on it after the fact. The author of that article gave an update hours later stating that wasn't actually said in the interview and has corrected it by only mentioning Remake and Rebirth. But it shouldn't be a surprise that the trilogy is console exclusive because as stated if you read the interviews, working on one platform helps the game release faster and a bunch of technical development reasons. Sony doesn't just pay for exclusivity, they actually assist with development. Silver Kirin not mentioning Switch challenge: Impossible. Hold your horses! I already gave the reason prior to that sentence. I guess you're not going to mention the platform that has actually grown in Japan since the pandemic and before that has helped original FF7 increased its sales a year after its PS1 release by 1 million+. You don't know? PC. We have enough evidence in the past few years that PC has been basically on par or selling more than PS5 physical + digital. The only mistake SE made with Intergrade (aside from not releasing it on PS4, but that was due to wanting to speed up development on the next titles) is taking a Epic Store deal instead of just releasing on Epic and Steam at the same time. The gap between Intergrade Steam and Remake PS4 was too big (2 years). It should have been when Intergrade PS5 released (1 month and 2 months after). Rebirth should release on PC within a year to help extend legs. If you're mentioning dead platform Xbox (turned into a digital platform promoting gamepass & retailers getting rid of physical copies in stores in parts of the world) in Japan (and overseas including US because devs dont even think porting for just 1 region is worth it) then you might as well mention the platform performing stronger than it. If we have to talk about FF not being exclusive because it cant reach 1m on 1 platform like every game before it then the platform holder is to blame, especially when the last FF 1m seller on the predecessor console was in 2020. 3. Just last month when Persona 3R and Granblue Fantasy Relink released, you stated in the comments: "Though speaking about hardware, the Switch once again sold more units than the PS5 after being in second place for a few weeks. Which is kind of interesting considering that the PS5 is having major software releases." As I stated to you: "NONE of the PS5 titles that released in this chart and last week are major software releases. They do NOT increase hardware numbers. The only major software release the PS5 has had is FF16. The next major release is FF7 Rebirth. Those are the titles that increase hardware. This shouldn't have to explain this to you if you knew what you were talking about." PS5 sales the week before RGG8 released: 57k During RRG8 week: 49k 1 week after RGG8 which is P3R and Relink week: 40k 1 week before Rebirth released: 33k Rebirth week (no PS5 bundle): 48k (FF16 week with PS5 bundle: 85k / Prior week: 51k) Everything "surprises" you when you should have "expected" it instead. Rebirth sold way below expectations that expected a decline so hardware numbers reflected that (and it had no bundle while 16 did). It increased PS5 sales as expected because despite the decline, FF and FF7 still have power to do it. Switch did as expected as it had been 48k+ the past few weeks. There was no reason to think it wouldn't be #1 especially when Rebirth didn't have a PS5 bundle to help increase sales even more. A Persona remake and a mobile game series that is making a home console game but due to years of delays lost its hype aren't major titles (RGG included).
Yes, FF sequels not called FF7. Rebirth is in a different time and environment (especially different console) that creates multiple reasons for its decline compared to those sequels. Remake stopped the FF decline in 2020 during its launch week in 3 days. No knowledgeable person in 2020 including SE expected such a "devastating" decline on PS5. |
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