I'm not sure about the West, but Yakuza has shrunk in the past 10 years in Japan just like FF did. I doubt the Persona user base is exactly young either since it derives a lot of its appeal from high-school nostalgia and these games have never shied away from a Mature rating.

I agree that FF competes with games in general for attention and that's why sales declined when their quality declined. Let's not just pretend that JRPGs are exactly a popular genre, it has always had limited reach and appeal except for the PS1/PS2 FFs and FF still towers over these other franchises even in decline.

There isn't much Square can do other than being consistent with their quality and releasing their games on multiple platforms whenever possible. Rebirth's gameplay is great and combat system the best in the series (general consensus) and may well be my favorite in any RPG or action game ever. The controversy is mainly the plot and segmentation.

Timed exclusivity on popular platforms isn't bad for companies and has nothing to do with Rebirth underperforming in the long run. Most potential buyers will either buy it on PS5 or wait to get it on their preferred platforms, leaving an insignificant minority to skip it out of spite or because "it's an old game bruh", a minority so small, they could be cancelled out by double dipping on Switch 2 for portability or PC for higher fidelity/custom experience. Not to mention the money SE gets from Sony and Epic Games.

I also think some people are massively overrstimating how much Rebirth cost to make. Game only took 3 years to develop, and the sequel could take less. That's 3 years from a company that isn't exactly known as efficient.

7 was one of my all time favorite games.  I've beaten it at least 10 times.  I plan on playing rebirth on PC for $30, just to see it.  I'm massively put off by the changes.  I wanted a remake akin to RE4 or Dead Space.  But hey, square wanted to expand it will silly stuff.  

What changes? Story? In the bigger picture there are not really changes to story. Just expansions. RE4 was remake akin to Final Fantasy 7's remake. So you want Final Fantasy 7 to keep doing its thing then? 

Square also ignores platforms not Sony.  FF16 still isn't on PC.  And the thing is I won't pay full price for FF16 when it hits PC.  Given the age of the game I won't pay more than $30.  Square is making some poor decisions.  Square could also cut out all the stupid mini games side quest filler BS to get games out faster and cheaper.  Square is making poor decisions.

Yeah staying platform exclusive in a time where not even Sony first party games still are feels like an anachronistic move.

The irony is, Square's actually pretty good with bringing their smaller stuff to a wider audience; they've arguably given the Switch better support than any other big publisher with stuff like Octopath Traveller 1/2, Triangle Strategy, Harvestella, Dragon Quest 11, Diofield Chronicle, Nier Automata, etc, but when it comes to their heavy hitters they're still doing exclusivity deals like it's 2004.

Speaking of anachronisms, I wonder if like this whole FF7 thing would've faired better if it had happened 10-15 years ago on PS3/360 or PS4/XBO; FF7 nostalgia doesn't seem as strong now as it was back then, now that most gamers under 30 never played it and many that did have moved on or aged out.

globally all of these franchises are bigger now than they were in past accept maybe Star Ocean. I think it's a small contributing factor, there is more JRPG competition. And if we acknowledge that FF has moved in an action RPG arena then the competition is even more stark.

Yeah staying platform exclusive in a time where not even Sony first party games still are feels like an anachronistic move.

The irony is, Square's actually pretty good with bringing their smaller stuff to a wider audience; they've arguably given the Switch better support than any other big publisher with stuff like Octopath Traveller 1/2, Triangle Strategy, Harvestella, Dragon Quest 11, Diofield Chronicle, Nier Automata, etc, but when it comes to their heavy hitters they're still doing exclusivity deals like it's 2004.

Speaking of anachronisms, I wonder if like this whole FF7 thing would've faired better if it had happened 10-15 years ago on PS3/360 or PS4/XBO; FF7 nostalgia doesn't seem as strong now as it was back then, now that most gamers under 30 never played it and many that did have moved on or aged out.