Exclusivity deal isn't really the issue. 

Deal or not, the game was not going to be on the Switch. So we're essentially talking PC/Xbox. Xbox wouldn't play a role in Japanese numbers and PC would have no impact in famitsu reported numbers. 

Globally it'd probably add a 30% to the games launch sales, potential for more but its rare Japanese games blow up on PC, I think Monster Hunter is one of the exceptions. 


There's a lot of commotion around FFXVI's sales but its entirely too early to gauge. I'm still waiting to finish Zelda before I pick it up and I think its hot on the heals of a lot of big single player games like Star Wars and GOW, add that PS5's userbase is still relatively primitive & this is truly the first big 3rd party exclusive that has launched on the system. I think expectations for early sales should keep this in mind, especially for Japan where we know the PS5's actual userbase is much smaller than what its pure sales suggest. 

La passion Final Fantasy.

Without Sony pay check, Capcom wouldn’t made SFV since they were having financial difficulties, despite that, the game ended sold a respectable 7.2m copies. SF6 will end with way more than that. 

As for the FFXVI discussion, I don’t understand all the doomed and gloomed talk about the game even if it hasn’t been a month since release.

I understand that a lot of people are saying like the game is not being talked at all, but it’s very much talked within the PS ecosystem, I think it would be better to wait and judge the game sales at the end of the year, a $50 price will be very beneficial for this title. 

Finally, it was SE that confirmed that they do some auctioning with some of their franchises, Sony ended paying more for the FF IP, other smaller IP’s like triangle strategy, Harvestella, a few Dragon Quest games, and others are console exclusives on the Switch.

There's a reason hardly any AAA games are exclusive any more, with even first party Xbox and Playstation games making their way to PC. The cost of these titles has become astronomical, and this is Square Enix we're talking about, a company that is notoriously often unhappy with how their games sell these days.
Heck, a month ago, it was reported they were apparently "slightly panicking" over FF16's preorders: https://www.pushsquare.com/news/2023/06/square-enix-allegedly-slightly-panicking-about-final-fantasy-16-ps5-pre-orders

If you're going to spend a fortune on a game, it's probably not wise to limit its userbase unnecessarily.

Square-Enix is already hitting up against their budget limits I think. 

FF16 doesn't look a full generation ahead of FF7 Remake or even FFXV if I'm being honest. It's the first time maybe ever that a mainline FF game on a new hardware generation doesn't look much better than the previous one. 

It kinda looks like Super Mario Galaxy versus Super Mario Sunshine, which was not a full generational leap and even that might be being generous, I honestly think FF7 Remake looks better in some respects. 

So Switch 2 could align well with Square-Enix not being able to go much higher up the graphics ladder at this point. Is Final Fantasy 17 really going to have a monster budget way beyond 16? I doubt it, not with the sales range of the series stagnating, very possibly declining. 

Awesome! 
Thanks for the replies!

XVI is developed by Creative Unit III which is focused on MMOs, not the usual FF team. Apparently they are using a modified version of XIV engine. That could explain the lack of graphical leap.

FF VII Rebirth is the next main game by the usual team. We can draw a conclusion on that next year.

Rebirth doesn't look like a generational leap over FF7 Remake either. 

Lets get real here, Square-Enix is not going to be able to give FF games budgets comparable to top of the line games that have 15-30 million in sales potential.

People who are demanding better and better graphics probably need a bit of a reality check in general. Unless you want games with like $200-$300 million dollar budgets that have to be sold for $90 and require 8 years of development, its not feasible to keep upping the graphics fidelity by leaps and bounds going forward unless you are sure you can sell like 20-25+ million copies and there's just not many publishers that can say that. 

Untill the game releases, the graphics can always improve. But I agree with you. I don't think SE can match the big puplishers when it comes to budget anymore. So probably a small improvement for every game should suffice for them.

Budget is not really a factor here.

Final Fantasy XVI looks the way it does because the technology it uses & the team in question. It is graphically only second to Horizon (and Ratchet-very different style) in terms of what it achieves visually. Future titles will be graphically defined by the team,  the software tools & new methods targeted at the new consoles, not bigger budgets.

Switch 2 may be able to take advantage of some of these, but may also be cut out, just as PS4/Xbox One do not support nanite on UE5. FFVII Rebirth looks the way it does because its a direct sequel using the same assets and blueprint as the PS4 game, just expanded in bigger environments. It'll probably be the cheapest Final Fantasy to produce since XIII-2. 

And once again  the notion of the series declining is very off, I think people do not know the actual sales history of Final Fantasy. Every generation has had wild fluctuations in sales. VII/VIII/IX sold very differently from each other. X/XII/XIII sold very differently from each other. The series sales range is 7-10m and XVI openning with 3m puts its pretty clearly in that mark. Only time will tell whether its on the upper or lower range. XV is the only game to open to much bigger sales than 3m and it had a decade of hype.