Summary
Final Fantasy 7 Rebirthsales have reportedly fallen short of Square Enix’s expectations, dealing a blow to the Japanese publisher’s revenue. Being the second game in a planned remake trilogy,Final Fantasy 7 Rebirthrolled out on February 29 to widespread acclaim.
Similar to its predecessor,Final Fantasy 7 Rebirthis a PlayStation-exclusive title. On top of that, the action game also received highly favorable reviews, much like the previous entry. However, while Square Enix acknowledgedFinal Fantasy 16’s strong sales early on, the publisher has apparently admitted that the sequel isn’t taking similar strides.
According toBloomberg, Square Enix President Takashi Kiryu revealed that the publisher’s recent games, such asFinal Fantasy 7 Rebirth,Final Fantasy 16, andFoamstars, have poorer sales than expected. Seemingly, these games underperformed in collecting revenue as well as generating profits. The source states that, as a consequence, the Japan-based company is currently targeting an operating income of 40 billion yen this year, which is significantly lower than the average of analyst estimates at 57 billion. Post Kiryu’s investor call, Square Enix’s shares also reportedly dipped by 16%, marking a new low for the company in the past 13 years.
Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth’s Low Sales Hit Square Enix
As per Bloomberg reporter Takashi Mochizuki’s tweet,Final Fantasy 7 RebirthandFoamstarsboth recorded underwhelming sales, which were “short of expectations.” It appears that, in both cases, the games couldn’t gather enough sales momentum to go on and meet the “internal target.” This falls in line with recentrumors of poor performance ofFinal Fantasy 7 Rebirth. Mochizuki also pointed out that this was unlike the previousFinal Fantasygame,Final Fantasy 16, which had a favorable sales performance at the start. However, he added that a slowdown led to last year’sFinal Fantasygame eventually missing out on its fiscal target.
Unfortunately, poor financial results have hurt Square Enix over the past few years, where its games have consistently missed internal sales targets. The losses have even prompted the publisher to cancel certain projects and undergo restructuring, the latter of which may soon translate intolayoffs at Square Enix’s US and EU offices.
Luckily for the fans, Square Enix has been making moves to maximize its revenue and will now opt for a multi-platform strategy for AAA games. In other words, fans can expect to seeFinal Fantasyand more Square Enix games land on multiple platforms, such as PC, PlayStation, Xbox, and Nintendo.
Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth
WHERE TO PLAY
Discover a vibrant and vast world in this standalone entry in the Final Fantasy VII remake project. Final Fantasy VII Rebirth is the second entry in the Final Fantasy VII remake project, which retells the story of the genre-redefining RPG across three distinct games. Iconic heroes Cloud, Barret, Tifa, Aerith and Red XIII have escaped from the dystopian city Midgar and are now in pursuit of Sephiroth, the vengeful swordsman from Cloud’s past who was thought to be dead. This new adventure can be enjoyed by all players, even those who have yet to play Final Fantasy VII Remake or the PlayStation original. Expect a new standard of cinematic storytelling, fast-paced combat and rich exploration across a vast world.
