I blame PlayStation players on this. FFVII Rebirth is fantastic and is the GOTY. What the hell the players are waiting for seriously ? Another Fifa and Cool of Doodie ?

I just finished the final chapter today.
This is a clear disappointment for Square Enix. Even if the PS5 has about half of the user base of what PS4 had at the time Remake launched, that's not enough of a reason. Spider-Man 2 has sold like hot cakes.
The reasons seem to be.
1. Remake wasn't universally acclaimed, though still well-liked. If someone was disappointed with or outright disliked Remake, there's not a good chance they came back to Rebirth (especially at full price).
2. Stiff competition this year from other RPGs.
3. Customers playing the waiting game for a sale or the trilogy to wrap up. We've known for at least months now that it will be a trilogy. Also, I think there is (or was) a way to get Remake included with Rebirth in a bundle. Why spend money now if you're on the fence or only tepidly interested?
I got Remake through PS Plus Essential (and Intergrade through Extra), so I've only had to pay for Rebirth so far out of the trilogy.

There are a few reasons why it's not selling well.
1, Final Fantasy is declining in popularity.
2. Final Fantasy 7 Remake disappointed a lot of fans, so they won't bother with Rebirth. It sold 7 million in 3 years across 3 platforms, and not all 7 million are going to be returning customers.
3. Being exclusive to one platform limits sales. A PC and Xbox version day one would have helped a lot. Even if it comes out later on those platforms it's too late and sales will be low.

Square Enix (and Sony) will definitely re-evaluate if having Final Fantasy exclusive to PS is even worth it anymore.

I think one aspect people aren't looking into as to why it's sales are half of the remake is that because the naming scheme is confusing. I'm not an OG fan of Final Fantasy, played only 15 and 16, but when rebirth came out I thought that it was like a remaster of the remake or maybe like a Pokemon variant like Sword or Shield. So consumers that aren't hardcore FF fans probably think that as well. But hey, I could be wrong and I'm probably the only one that thought of it like that.

I wonder if this'll make Sony reconsider the deal it has going on with Square since Rebirth's impact on PS5 sales won't exactly be significant.

Didn't it have 2.2 million active at the same time? So people like me that bought it and weren't playing then (like I still haven't cause Rise of the Ronin is currently sucking time) so it's gotta be at least 3m total now. hopefully gets a good tail and some holiday numbers based on its great wom

I'm waiting for a PC release, same with 16.  Square needs to drop the exclusive crap.  The 90s ended a long time ago.

They basically need to figure out whether or not they even want to finance part 3. Sure some fans wouldn't like it if Square decides part 3 doesn't get made. But not a whole lot of people will buy it anyways. Even with Xbox and PC day one I don't see it selling all that well. And the costs of part 3 will be even greater than part 2.

Making a game that costs around 150 million to make to only sell 5 million copies and not all at full price, isn't a very wise strategy from a financial point of view. Especially since 30% of the revenue goes to PS, Xbox and Steam.

Given how the older FF games are being repackaged/remastered and re-released and sold on multiple platforms for decades now, I see the eventual FF7 trilogy be an evergreen going on for years to come.

They need to make the third entry no matter what, but could downscope it a bit if they don't want to spend $150m+ on the finale. SE has shown it can work on 2 FF games at the same time with FF716 and Rebirth, so I don't think working on FF7 part 3 will delay a FF17 title.

Wrong timing. Shouldn't have taken the time to improve the environment and lighting and released it once hell divers 2 died down