The statistic you are thinking of also included players of the free demo.

I do think they should still make the last part since it being the last should mean it'll sell better than Rebirth and the trilogy concluding will boost the sales of the other two. Though after this and FF16 there's surely gonna be internal discussions going on about decreasing the scope of it to lower the budget.

I don't think multiplat would have helped it massively. FF isn't exactly a large brand on either Xbox or Steam.

As people have said it already, this has multiple causes. Some had their nostalgia fix with Remake only and/or were put off by the ending. Maybe less available PS5s vs. PS4s and the higher price play a part too but I think that's a minor factor. The FF userbase is old and generally has disposable income for these games as their frontloadedness attest.

The huge gap of time between the OG and the Remake might have also been detrimental (the game is no longer as relevant as some fans/SE thought) as well as the overall declining quality since FF13.

Lots contributes to this but I think above all the nostalgia for VII and the novelty of the remake is over. Now it's just hardcore fans invested and essentially a niche endevour.

Part 3 should be a condensed & much leaner considering this. I suspect it will still be Playstation console exclusive at launch but be day/date on PC. For Sony themselves, there is very little value in paying big bucks for something that won't really shift consoles and is wanning in popularity.

This game will sell less than XVI. Final Fantasy Itself kind of needs a soft reboot which feels both approachable (new naming convention)
& highly distinct enough to capture the attention of a new generation. Final Fantasy XVI imo looked too generic on a service level. Both the original FFVII and FFX were both landmark fantasy experiences when they released on PS1 and PS2 and kind of looked unlike anything else on each respective platform. Square need another highly original fantasy world and I hope a gameplay system which is aesthetically clean and tactical.

Remake fired up because of curiosity and it was covid times.

But honestly I don't think planning it as a trilogy and telling people beforehand was a smart move. Who really has the patience to buy a game now and wait for the finale to happen 8 years later?

In Movies this sometimes works. But a movie is 2-3 hour/ $10-15 dollar investment, not a 40 hours+ $70 one.

This is an interesting discussion. Many people coming up with excuses.It's fun... let's join.

Before Remake released, I mentioned how the success of this series was going to be determined by the sequels success. This came from when discussion about it being split up came up people kept talking about FF13 and how it was a 3 part series, I mean it wasn't stop trying to compare. 13-2 sold decently compared to 13 but 13-3 was pretty much a 3rd of both of them. If it is a series then well, 60% of all FF13 players never played the end of the story. Of course it's not because FF13 was a self contained game with 2 sequels.

FF7R though, is exactly that, a multipart series. We know the full game already from 25 years ago and even if many are waiting for a 'full' release, that won't help in between and waiting potentially a decade for it to arrive. SquEnix resources have been put into this game as they claim they need to "do it justice" but how does that help appeal to people when the market for this particular FF game is so small? You have to have played FF7R, liked FF7R, maybe like FF7 and FF in general to pick it up. You think people are going to pick this up as their first FF game? Doubtful.

But even here it's hard to compare sales. FF7R sold what 7 mil? Yet it was given to PS+ users at one point, it's how I played it. 7 mil plus untold amount of PS+ subs and it still can't compare?

They were better spent their time developing and producing the technology to make FF7R, make the entirity of it 1 game, butcher the gameplay all they like but then move on to new FF games.

We are now at the point of having FF 16 and FF7R-2 released and no announcement for either FF17 or if R-2 fails too much, even getting a R-3 to finish the story for those who actually liked it.

Sad times.... of course, all i can think is "Good, should have just made FF7 like they said they were going to."

I will buy them again too on PC. I want to do them again on PC.

SE might have to rely on Part 3 being the least padded. 

Remake adapted about 20% of the OG's playthrough, but that first 20% is more script-heavy proportionally. Rebirth was about the next 40% which would make Part 3 about another 40%. Remake was padded massively in the story and side quest department to make a full game. Rebirth has a lot of padding as well, despite adapting more of the original.

Cancelling Part 3 would probably be a bad idea, but the budget (and likely length) of the game will have to be reduced. Part 3 could probably be a little longer than Remake in story and side content, but it's going to have to be smaller than Rebirth. SE probably wanted most of Rebirth's regions to all in Part 3, but I don't know if they can anymore. Developing new side content for them takes time and labor which adds to the cost. 

Alternatively, SE allocated most of the budget for the Remake a while ago most likely. Perhaps they'll stick to the vision no matter what even after Rebirth's underwhelming sales and some outright failures at SE.

Spiderman 2 was also bundled in with the PS5 during the holiday.  That comparison is disingenuous.