Nomura on his departure: "It was the company's decision, I can't say anything more than that."

[The Fury]

teigaga said:

The Fury said:

I was thinking that of making a thread about the Nebula Nova Crysalist (or whatever it was) series and how it has hurt SE in more ways then they probably like to admit. Development time and effort spent for years making games and it took 4 years to release the first from when it was announced and it wasn't that great, 2 poor sequels, a handheld game and mobile game is all we have to show for it and the handheld game took 6 years to be released. FFXV (vsXIII) has taken 8 years to get this far. 

In all time they could have made 3 main series FF titles each selling 8 million last gen instead of 1 series that sold 11 total, a game not even released and a psp game only in japan.

They really should have done that. Turning each entry into a franchise of its own has been damaging in my opinion. They should save it for occasional spin offs like Dissidia (we need Dissidia 3 for PS4!), or the occasional fan service title like crisis core. Ultimately though the series was best when each fantasy was final.

I'm hoping they're moving back towards that notion and that FFXVI is pretty far in development as we speak. Even though it sounds cost efficient to make sequels off some existing assets, when sales drop by 50% with each sequel alongside the franchises reputation, it makes question if its even logical from a business perspective. They've only managed 11m in the last with 3 FF titles in the last 6 years. If each of those title were unique, they could have  easily achieved 22m units and upwards.

In retrospect, they probably think that too. The success of the FF series wasn't creating a brand but the fact each game was in itself a world. story and gameplay. Try to create a franchise off one of those worlds just set them back. Development times didn't help. 4 years since announcement for 13, 5 for Type-0, potential 10 for 15. 10 years.

Clever spin-offs like Dissidia are a great idea but having a main series title have sequels or prequels, or the worlds to be extended shouldn't happen, in my opinion. None of the FF7 extra games have been outstanding and they kinda have to be to live up to people's expectations.

They should be moving to that way of doing FF because that is the most profitable. 13 sold a lot, a lot of it was on expectation (my purchase for example) but the sequels are a sign of people didn't approve. Like you say, 50% or more of people didn't approve (X to X-2 was like 80% which is very good). The key bit is that those who buy FF main series titles weren't buying anything when usually they bought a main series FF game every 2 years or so. SE lost money from not putting in the effort. Your last sentence is spot on.