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Otter on 30 June 2023
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Wyrdness said:
Otter said:

FFXV has sold not much more than 1 million on Xbox. Being multiplatform on console didn't change its overall sales success. XV launched late on PC and XVI will do the same 

We can't really talk about the franchise's "decline" commercially when the last entry is the biggest in the franchise lol. 

As far as XVI we'd really need to look at it's sales throughout a decent period of time. VII R opened big but had very short legs. It's overall meek performance can probably be tied to it being only part of the full game and the nostalgia aspect being overated.

Lastly the franchise hasn't grown massively as it maybe could have but the first place I'd look is at the highly divisive experience people have been having recently with Both mainline games (XIII & XV) and the spinoffs. Most people I know haven't loved a FF since the 2000s. Let's see if 16 can help mend that...

Of course being on Switch would help SE shift more units but I think its blatantly against their ambitions for mainline FF for the time being & mainline FF isn't actually declining in sales so far. 

That 1m on Xbox makes up for the 1m they miss out on in Japan, XVI's opening shows the series continues to slide in the region while PC would have given XV another 1 to 2m in sales so again the last entry is only the biggest because of multiplatform releases they helped offset the decline in the region.

We can talk about decline because that's what is happening in the region which is the point both XV and VIIR only hit 1m in Japan in a series that used to hit 3m in the region, both these games had little legs after launch week I don’t see XVI being any different.

Other games have had divisive games but have still grown, Zelda being one with a few before BOTW and even RE series with RE7, the issue isn't FF being divisive it's the quality and appeal of what's been put out. Having ambition is one thing but the comes a point where you have to step back and assess if you have the right ambition going forward and if it's focusing on the right priority in doing so. 

Your jumping between perspectives

Either we're talking decline in Japan or we're talking WW. In japan Xbox release is irrelevant, WW decline is not real in the mainline series with or without the 1m from Xbox.

The quality is partially what has made FF divisive recentlyu lol, which was my point. The comparison to Zelda is a bit off, Zelda has a much stronger core experience than recent Final Fantasy.  FFXIII, XV and XVI might as well each be a different IP. There is no modern AAA franchise which treats each entry as unique as Final Fantasy for better and worse.

During the golden age FFVII, VIII & IX the games were very aligned in gameplay, team orientation & scope at least. I'd love for them to go back to that. 

Last edited by Otter - on 30 June 2023