Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth’s Disappointing Sales Has COVID And Sequel Fatigue To Blame

Cloud Strife’s harrowing chase to locate Sephiroth in Square Enix’s mammoth remake sequel, Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth, teed up the most anticipated game drop in 2024 and is a serious shoo-in for game of the year – following the acclaimed path of its 2020 predecessor. Despite the accolades paving its way to commercial success, Rebirth’s sales stalled in a shortfall compared to the electric release of Final Fantasy 7 Remake, leading to the far-fetched idea that the open-world successor was somewhat a failure in comparison.

Ampere Analysis reported Rebirth’s 2.2 million daily active users between its launch date on February 29, 2024, and April 10, compared to Remake’s 3.5 million copies sold within its first three post-release days. That’s a significant drop worth noting, and Daniel Ahmed, director of Research & Insights at Niko Partners, added Rebirth’s sales were approximately half of Remake’s vending sourced from equities research reports, but the question is: Why?

Reaching universal acclaim with an impressive 92 Metascore and high ratings across the review board, Rebirth and ‘failure’ shouldn’t even appear in the same sentence. Since the media’s recent hyperfixation on finance and figures in the gaming and movie industries has been outweighing the craft when determining the success of a release, Rebirth has been caught in the crosshairs of scrutiny – despite Final Fantasy fans raving about it. Instead of looking for a reason in the game’s blueprint, there are several external factors to consider for a sales drop, two of which are rooted in Remake’s debut and a generalized sequel fatigue within the gamer pool.

Remake’s Peak Escapism During The Pandemic

Casting our minds back to the daunting year of 2020, the arrival of Square’s dazzling Final Fantasy 7 remake project was shared with the debilitating pandemic, driving people indoors and escalating the demand for video games tenfold. Nintendo’s Animal Crossing: New Horizons is the perfect example of this influx, skyrocketing to become Japan’s best-selling game ever as restless, housebound denizens turned to games to escape real-world horrors. The response to satisfy this demand has left a devastating impact on the industry, with lay-offs still spreading at present, but this boom is also one culprit that boosted Remake’s sales – a feat Rebirth had little chance of replicating now that Coronavirus has stabilized. The pandemic did for Remake and New Horizons what 3D technology did for James Cameron’s Avatar to see it become the highest-grossing movie of all time, and therefore, anomalies need to be factored into sales reports.

Sephiroth Can’t Seduce Everyone

After the pandemic surge, we need to look at sequel fatigue. This lethargy can be found in movie culture too, after the predecessor sets the board for viewers to gauge their interest and either double down on the next chapter or abandon it entirely. Unlike the standalone narratives being cooked in individual Final Fantasy entries, the Final Fantasy 7 premise has already been told, and the convoluted story fueled by Mako, Materia, and an imminent meteor isn’t for every novice. In short, fans of the original game will likely stick around to see the full remake trilogy transpire. However, newcomers to the story – a number increased by dabbling souls from the pandemic era – may have tried Remake on for size and conclusively exclaimed “Not for me!” Therefore, it’s reasonable to believe a substantial number of those Remake sales would not repeat for Rebirth.

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Remake’s Combat System Is Subjective

Another contributor to the sequel’s sales dip now targets the Final Fantasy 7 fandom. The masterful polygon adventure, released back in 1997, used turn-based combat following the JRPG tradition, but this was replaced in the remake project with real-time combat to make wild encounters and boss battles more action-packed. Despite Remake’s combat system catering to a modern audience, loyal Final Fantasy fans often favor the JRPG mechanics, and therefore, turn a cold shoulder towards Remake’s fight – similar to the debate surrounding Final Fantasy 16’sDevil May Cry-styled melee. While this is a fair reason to shelve the entire remake project after test-driving Remake, it’s yet another reason why the sequel’s sales could have dropped, negating the notion that Rebirth was somehow a lesser game. You’re never going to please everyone.

Rebirth Is Only For The PS5 Gang

A final factor that undoubtedly impacted Rebirth’s sales is the sequel’s PS5 exclusivity. Remake was released on the PS4 – which was nearing the end of its longevity after a seven-year service – and later crossed over to the PS5 via Intergrade’s addition. Rebirth was a strict PS5 release after the console’s three-year stint on the market with a resilient high price tag, influencing millions of PlayStation users to stick with the last-gen console and Rebirth automatically excluded them. It’s only natural that current releases populate the corresponding platform for the ultimate performance, but it stings for PS4 users as several gamers refuse to jump on brand-new consoles until the cost lowers.

Conclusively, several obstacles have blocked the flow of Rebirth’s sales, some of which are ultimately inevitable, and therefore, somewhat expected. However, a deficit in sales, especially when justifiable forces are contributing to the decrease, shouldn’t write off any release as a dud. This toxic infatuation with sales figures (instead of leaving them with the industry insiders) has slowly become a disappointing trend and a dreadful excuse to withhold merit, especially for an entertaining, pristine, and incredibly loyal remake like Rebirth. With the sequel suffering the middle-child curse, sales expectations for the final part of the remake trilogy – the allusive title is still being debated – should be managed and aligned with Rebirth’s performance. Final Fantasy 7 veterans, alongside the uninitiated who stuck with Square’s project as far as Rebirth, are expected to see this journey through to the end and experience one of the finest remake projects in video games history.

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