Shatts said:
Honestly I'm just surprised people are talking about FF16 so much. Didn't know so many people here were so passionate about Final Fantasy. |
They are not. But there is an ongoing agenda here that people want a push as hard as possible. What people here really wants is to Square Enix to essentially change how they make their mainline FF games, so they can have a new big Japanese third party to play on Nintendo. In the end, it's really only that.
FF XVI on Switch wouldn't sell that much better than it sold on Playstation. To make my case, I'll bring Monster Hunter. MHW+I sold 5.7 million combined in Japan as of November 2020 (https://www.google.com/amp/s/gamingbolt.com/monster-hunter-world-on-pc-outselling-the-ps4-version-outside-of-japan-as-per-leaked-sales-figures/amp), with base version account for ~3,2 million. Sadly we don't have a perfect breakdown for how MHR+S sold, also seems like people heavily leaned toward buy thr expansion digitally, regardless the base version sold 2.5 million physically and with a doable 40% digital ratio this would lead to around 4,1 million sales for the physical release. I don't believe """just""" 1 million copies.
Monster Hunter Rise should have sold significantly better than Monster Hunter World, the franchise a huge history of sucess on Nintendo platforms was released in a plataform that will end with four times PS4 userbase. It's clear most of Switch userbase just don't care for games like Monster Hunter, and won't care for Final Fantasy either
Japanese gamers tastes changed and Final Fantasy gameplay changed as well. We have generations of gamers who don't play JRPGs, and a market that don't favor Action RPGs either. For a market who LOVES portable gaming, a game with 12 hours worth cinematic scenes will never be appealing. Final Fantasy is a franchise curated for home consoles, to be played stationary mode and I don't believe this is how most Japanese use theirs Switches
The platform the game is released won't change that. FF XVI would be flopping in Japan regardless. Capcom did everything they could to make Resident Evil 2 appealing, they made a game that was loyal to the original in EVERYTHING but graphics, and Japanese look at that masterpiece that was RE 2 remake and simply shrugged "we ain't buying that" while the rest of the world still jamming it (it became a evergreen title that moves half million copies every quarter).
There is nothing Enix can do to revive Japan interest on FF. If they want more money they can make lower budget Final Fantasy spin offs, make them turn based maybe. I'm sure it can at least match the current sales of mainline FF, if released on Switch. I would personally LOVE that, as both FF fan and Switch owner who has a sweet spot for classic FF, but I don't want this to be the standard mainline FF going forward.
Needless to say, people here expecting Japan to save the franchise are deluding themselves. For FF to keep being financially viable with their current budget they need the convince the rest of the world their game is good, because Japan in lost, Japan is irrelevant to Final Fantasy in our current day and age.
It's also quite funny to look at FF XV and see a user here claiming it was a "successful exception" when the same person here HATE that game and believe it to be the worst FF of all, a feeling that is shared by almost every bitter turn based FF player. So in the end, the game they liked the least and didn't wanted SE to repeat is the game that actually set a precedent on maybe how FF should be going forward: Clue, it's not appealing to Switch owners
