My solution for decline:

First FF of a generation -- Do it on consoles...make it multiplat if possible....put the FF7/10/13 team on it

Second FF of a generation -- Do it on HANDHELDS.....make it TRADITIONAL...in the FF4/6 style. Let the FF9 team do it (the producer for FF9 is still at Square)

Third FF of a generation -- Do it on consoles that had the first FF of the generation & let the KH team do it.

That would be a decent cycle imho.

I have nothing against MMO's & I'm looking forward to XIV but I do think its best if all 3 FF's ina given gen are Single Player.

EDIT: Yes I know this will never happen but its a viable option

Maybe the contexts are off a little, I'm far from saying anything flopped myself, however if you put those values into a graph it would be a downward slope.

Last I checked the point of business was to make consumers, meaning garner interest, if Square-Enix is still a business and FFXIII was their product then yes it did fail to meet the goals of that business.

For example, Monster Hunter Tri on debue can be said to be a success in the west and success in the east depending on the context that could change though.

For example it hasn't out sold any of the portable Monster Hunters on portables in the east in that contexts Tri is a horrible failure.

I'm more than willing to accept this and not get defensive because it's true. If you look at just consoles then Tri is a massive success in the East as well.

My post is strictly observational. Honestly I couldn't care less about another FF unless it was FF Tactics which was fun and if my amigo's got into it I would buy it.

Oh yeah because I totally forgot 1.9m sales is a flop, seriously... there's games that have sold less than that worldwide... just because it hasn't sold as much as previous installments doesn't mean it's a flop, maybe if it was 1.9k sales, then yeah... but seriously, how can you possibly call that amount of sales a flop?

The word flop is used waaaaay too often on these forums, and half the time, people don't even know what it means... 1.9m sales = Profit, add on the other sales from US/EU, and dayum.

WHAT

where are you getting these numbers from?

our site disagrees

So, since you don't try to prove me wrong, and only try to be smart and spin it, I assume that you understand that sales for a sequel can be lower that the prequel, even if the prequel was a very good game.

OOOOkkkkkayy....Well at least you got one part right.

Maybe you should listen to what everyone else is saying in this thread, as they are saying the same thing I said.

You've hit on the major problem.  The series is over stagnated.  Even in the PSX days, people were saying there was too many FF titles coming out, and that was only when there was 3 main games and 1-2 side games/remakes coming out each year.  Now we have anywhere from 10+ 'Final Fantasy' games coming out each year, over every conceivable system.  Even the most staunch Final Fantasy fan can't keep up between all the FFVII sequels, the FF remakes on DS and PSP, the side games on Wii, Dissidia and Durge of Cerberus, FF online and the 'main' games.  When it all comes down to it, FFXIII biggest problem, aside from being on PS3 (the price tag), is probably people are losing interest in Final Fantasy.  Between FFXII and FFXIII, they had a chance to play over 40+ FF games.  Many of them probably did, and that's going to make FFXIII less 'magical'.

I'm really not one for jumping off bridges.

it needs to be aimed at them instead of aimed for the western market slightly more.
however the amount of PS3's are their sold and the sales FFXIII made is actually fairly good considering, will have to work out %'s for them all.

I believe those numbers are from Famitsu.

They may not include budget / international releases (or whatever else), though. Would be nice if someone could clarify

FFX sold 2.4m in its first year then went on to sell 3m.

Bottom line; give it time, re-releases will give it a lot more sales.