[Bloomberg] Sales of FFXVI, VII Rebirth, and Foamstars failed to meet expectations

[cw_sasuke]

It's common sense but for the last couple months people were trying to convince themselves that SE would be fine with only selling 3m copies of their biggest games when Capcom, From and others are releasing +10m sellers of their biggest games.

Without this move Atlus was about to eclipse FF as the top JRPG console(non Pokemon) with P6...now at least SE has a shot to fight back and not loose all of their momentum.

I am not smart t all for this stuff, if sales do not meet expectations is that with the sony monyhatting included or nah?

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They wouldn't change the strategy if they were happy with the overall outcome.

 

[The_Noobiablos]

I have my issues with FF16, but it sucks seeing it underperform. I still enjoyed most of that game, and I'm sure it'll hold up better if I play it again and just "crit path" it.

Rebirth underperforming is one of those things that just makes makes me angry. I think of all the other absolute trash that takes off and I'm like...you have this literal dream game here, total package, no MXTs, has like a 4 hour long OST that's dynamically built into the exploration/battle, and the best depiction of these characters out there...and it's not enough.

I'm not super worried about Part 3, but I do feel like we're never going to see a project like this ever again.

Just hoping that it'll find it's legs with the inevitable 3 part collection (or if I decide to bring the Intergrade/Rebirth combo back).

 

[Precious Tritium]

Did this come from SE themselves?

I honestly dont trust this reporter for SE and Sony news, in general. His bias against SE and Sony ran wild when XVI released.

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No there is no new information in the article. Just this guy's typical MO.

 

[Vertigo1]

Oof well there it is.

 

[PlanetSmasher]

I think what you need to consider is... does it need to be even prettier to sell more? or does it need to have a larger audience?

Nintendo learned this lesson decades ago. It was only a matter of time before the industry was going to get there eventually.

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The problem I'm saying is that Final Fantasy doesn't have anything going for it if it doesn't have graphics as its selling point. As a franchise they simply do not have a hook anymore. It's not the art, it's not the writing, it's not the character designs, and the core gameplay literally changes completely every single game. There is no hook anymore.

In short: just putting the game on more consoles won't mean more people WILL buy it, it just means more people COULD buy it, which could actually lead to even higher expectations on Square's part that the game will fail to live up to because FF as a franchise just doesn't have the appeal or the hook necessary to actually sell to those people.

Is DQ3 still the most popular Dragon Quest game in Japan or am I just showing my age?

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I don't remember. I don't care enough about DQ as a franchise to track the popularity of individual entries, I'm afraid. I'm sure it'll do fine in Japan but I just do not see it making a dent outside of Japan. There is zero nostalgia for retro DQ outside of Japan.

 

[Rainy]

It's common sense but for the last couple months people were trying to convince themselves that SE would be fine with only selling 3m copies of their biggest games when Capcom, From and others are releasing +10m sellers of their biggest games.

Without this move Atlus was about to eclipse FF as the top JRPG console(non Pokemon) with P6...now at least SE has a shot to fight back and not loose all of their momentum.

They wouldn't change the strategy if they were happy with the overall outcome.

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Persona 6 will be very interesting. It might have a bigger opening than 16 when it releases, if its multiplatform, which I think it will be. It'll most definitely sell more than Rebirth I would think.

 

[Diablos]

It's sad that Rebirth isn't a financial success, but it and Remake are the happiest I've been with Square Enix since the PS2 days.

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Same… that's why this is so shitty! Rebirth is the best thing they've done since FFX!

 

[Hero]

It will definitely come out.

But if you think SE is going to throw the same amount of money that they did into Rebirth into it, only to post another fiscal year of losing tons of money because of it.....
It's a known issue at this point for SE, they did not know this before Rebirth came out.

Imo, there is 0% chance that part 3's development isn't dramatically effected by these sales. They need to make a product that makes them money.

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What else are you expecting Square Enix to have in 3 to 4 years as far as AAA games go? Its one of the only high profile projects they have left that we know about.

 

[oty]

Didnt the new tomb raider sold 4 million units the first month i think and square enix called it a disaster? lol you are right, square is funny sometimes.

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because they splashed so much money on it that yes, launch sales units were not enough to offset the damages it did. expectations are very much influenced by costs, after all

Rebirth underperforming is one of those things that just makes makes me angry. I think of all the other absolute trash that takes off and I'm like...you have this literal dream game here, total package, no MXTs, has like a 4 hour long OST that's dynamically built into the exploration/battle, and the best depiction of these characters out there...and it's not enough.

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just making a good game isn't enough for a game to sell. you can make the best muffin there is, if people don't want it, it's not going to sell and you can't be really mad at it

and yes, there's plenty of reasons why Rebirth didnt sell

 

[werezompire]

Playing Crow Country and now I desperately wish they'd make a new Final Fantasy that just fully embraced that cute PS1-era look.

 

[Mekanos]

Is DQ3 still the most popular Dragon Quest game in Japan or am I just showing my age?

Also, given the length of development on DQ3 remake and the gap since we've heard anything new about it, I'm guessing it's not just DQ3 with 2.5D graphics. I'm guessing there's either new content that connects it to later games OR it's turned into Dragon Quest Trilogy remake.

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The best selling DQ in Japan is 9, though 7 and 3 are right behind it.

 

[OGlol]

It's common sense but for the last couple months people were trying to convince themselves that SE would be fine with only selling 3m copies of their biggest games when Capcom, From and others are releasing +10m sellers of their biggest games.

Without this move Atlus was about to eclipse FF as the top JRPG console(non Pokemon) with P6...now at least SE has a shot to fight back and not loose all of their momentum.

They wouldn't change the strategy if they were happy with the overall outcome.

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what capcom big seller has done 10m within the same time frame?

 

[Holmes]

Kinda shows the narrative about the sales of 16 were not in bad faith, a lot of people kept claiming Square would be happy with that result and it seemed obvious it wouldn't, it barely felt like it even released.

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No, it was bad faith, because people were saying that despite Square claiming XVI was meeting expectations. Which it was at the time. People saying "well actually" we're just projecting.

 

[Rickyrozay2o9]

Sucks cause FF16 and FF7Rebirth are so good, and FF7R is pretty much my ideal kind of game. After FF7R3, I worry if they'll keep making games like it anymore...

The gaming business seems hellbent on pushing games away from the kind of games I like. I know it's "just a AAA problem", but the FF7Rebirth type of game is only possible at the AAA scale of production, indie and AA could never make a FF7Rebirth. I hope multiplat will improve things, but I don't see late captialism, infinite money potential in simply increasing the market. Put me out to pasture I guess.

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Nothing is going to change with squares big titles. You'll get them on more platforms and that's it.

 

[Drachen]

Spending 10 years pushing XIII and Versus XIII/XV as the only mainline Final Fantasy games has done irreparable damage to the brand, not to mention the exclusivity deals and staggered releases.

 

[cw_sasuke]

Persona 6 will be very interesting. It might have a bigger opening than 16 when it releases, if its multiplatform, which I think it will be. It'll most definitely sell more than Rebirth I would think.

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It's def. gonna outsell the last couple PS5 exclusive FFs.

Having it on Steam and Switch 2 in addition to PS(Xbox) and releasing simultaneously worldwide. Is gonna be massive in terms of nindshare and word of mouth.

 

[Captain of Outer Space]

Everything I saw when I played Foamstars suggested it should've been a free to play game, so they really should go that route if they want a chance at getting it to where it can go. It's a fun game otherwise, but has too much monetization in it for a $30 game.

 

[PlanetSmasher]

Didnt the new tomb raider sold 4 million units the first month i think and square enix called it a disaster? lol you are right, square is funny sometimes.

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Tomb Raider's problem is that Crystal Dynamics is a financial black hole with some of the highest costs in the entire industry because San Francisco is a nightmare to run a business in due to insanely high cost of living. Embracer and Amazon get to learn that lesson now.

4 million units in a vacuum might sound great but number of units doesn't matter if you don't make your money back. And Eidos has always struggled at that because their studios are located in comically expensive cities.

 

[ezekial45]

Yeah, it's a real shame Square Enix and the FF franchise is in a slump. Though I think a lot of it is self-inflicted because they overexposed their key franchise while simultaneously limiting its audience reach. I think going forward they need to tone down the amount of FF games to avoid audience confusion and over exposure, while also really pivoting FF to be more of a prestige franchise that's available on all the key platforms.

But yeah, I wish XVI and Rebirth did better. For FFVII in particular, I don't see them reassessing and changing Part 3 at all because they clearly need a big core game in the pipeline and the game is already paid for by the Sony deal. So that's done and planned out, so I don't see them getting cold feet on that now despite what the doom and gloom folk want to say. Rebirth was also their most well-reviewed game in a very long time, so they do have their next prestige game on the way.
Anyway, I think Rebirth and XVI will find legs as the years go on once it adds more platforms. That's just the nature of things. But yeah, I hope SE will learn the right lessons and not release so many games that release in crowded periods while also cannibalizing their own audiences.

 

[DarkSora]

Yo, I had no idea foamstars was already out.

 

[Lotus]

It will definitely come out.

But if you think SE is going to throw the same amount of money that they did into Rebirth into it, only to post another fiscal year of losing tons of money because of it.....
It's a known issue at this point for SE, they did not know this before Rebirth came out.

Imo, there is 0% chance that part 3's development isn't dramatically effected by these sales. They need to make a product that makes them money.

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Oh, then sure I guess

It's the end of Wano all over again

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Lol

 

[Kopite]

Didnt the new tomb raider sold 4 million units the first month i think and square enix called it a disaster? lol you are right, square is funny sometimes.

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You're not wrong but that was mostly because the development budget of Tomb Raider was much higher than any of their Japanese games because of the location of Crystal Dynamics and the salaries there.

 

[Lotus]

Yo, I had no idea foamstars was already out.

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It never even got an official OT on Era, people just didn't care

 

[cw_sasuke]

what capcom big seller has done 10m within the same time frame?

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Capcom games have legs and sell for years, meanwhile these SE games sell most of their lifetime sales in their first year if not quarter.

That's SEs issue to figure out, limiting their big games to a single platform probably didn't help.

 

[OGlol]

Capcom games have legs and sell for years, meanwhile these SE games sell most of their lifetime sales in their first year if not quarter.

That's SEs issue to figure out, limiting their big games to a single platform probably didn't help.

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oh ok

 

[Tigerfish419]

A million copies on Xbox is a very enthusiastic expectation in an era where Xbox gamers expect games to launch on Game Pass day one and throw fits or don't bother playing them at all if they don't.

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What the hell kinda of comment is that lmao. Clearly releasing on 1 platform isn't working and no matter how anyone tries to shift blame or make excuses, it is better off for Square to release on everything and people have been saying this for years, Sony can't support the whole division themselves with money hats.

If anything the way Microsoft goes about their deals with partners like SEGA is the better solution for a publisher like Square they'll get money to put games on game pass and they'll get slots in their showcase but also able to release everywhere. I think game pass gives publishers a floor of expected income they can build off and it's why SEGA and other publishers sign up with big deals. When a publisher/developer signs up they get paid in different ways but also can still sell the game, a publisher has come out and said that some of their games that hit game pass had actually increased sales on other platforms because it got word of mouth around.

 

[PlanetSmasher]

Spending 10 years pushing XIII and Versus XIII/XV as the only mainline Final Fantasy games has done irreparable damage to the brand, not to mention the exclusivity deals and staggered releases.

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FFXV sold orders of magnitude more than any of the FF games after it. This isn't FFXV's fault. The product was simply more appealing to mass audiences than anything they've put out since.

Capcom games have legs and sell for years, meanwhile these SE games sell most of their lifetime sales in their first year if not quarter.

That's SEs issue to figure out, limiting their big games to a single platform probably didn't help.

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Capcom doesn't even make JRPGs, though. It's not as simple as "CAPCOM GOOD, SQUARE ENIX BAD". Trying to sell AAA JRPGs is not as simple as "BE CAPCOM, REAP THE REWARDS". Capcom owns the only viable AAA survival horror franchise in the entire industry, the single biggest fighting game IP in the industry next to Mortal Kombat and Smash Bros, and Monster Hunter. Those are the games that sell well.

Then you have DMC games, which are modest sellers compared to the other ones, and then you have literal turboflops like Exoprimal. It's not a magic formula Capcom knows and Square doesn't. Market dynamics are a lot more complex than that.

 

[NukeRunner]

No, it was bad faith, because people were saying that despite Square claiming XVI was meeting expectations. Which it was at the time. People saying "well actually" we're just projecting.

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I knew it didn't and of course they aren't going to come out and say otherwise when they don't need to. All you had to do was look at the numbers, numbers don't lie and they aren't good at all, not for the scale Square aims for and in contrast to the series history.

If you're making AAA software on PS5 hardware and it's being outsold by PS1 and PS2 games, that's not a good look. The only thing we can't know is how much Sony put forward to offset all this, but there is something to be said about stunting your growth in doing this strategy. Look what happened with Rise of the Tomb Raider on Xbox, these deals are bad for brand longevity, and should only happen if you simply can't make it on your own.

I'd say if you're claiming people who knew the numbers were not good were doing so out of bad faith because Square said otherwise right when the game launched, but now is saying they are bad, that says more about your ability to interpret simple data than anything. Rebirth is doing even worse as well and that game is massive, this isn't sustainable at all.

Even if these games get very late ports elsewhere, they would have missed the critical window where hype is at its highest and can sustain itself, that being a launch period.

 

[werezompire]

Unless Atlus manages to completely drop the ball, Persona 6 is going to trounce current Final Fantasy when it comes to both hype & sales.

Foamstars might be a great game, but from afar, it just seems like budget, bootleg Splatoon.

 

[Captain of Outer Space]

What is the last game that Square Enix said met or exceeded expectations?


View: https://twitter.com/stephentotilo/status/1790230403178971385

 

[Xando]

This was obvious to everyone that wasn't biased when they didn't say anything about sales after release.

The franchise is in obvious decline and i'm willing to bet it won't be long until they lose the crown of biggest JRPG around.

 

[Ant_17]

Am i the only one thinking these flopped cause they were from the company that released Forspoken, Star Ocean and Valkyrie Profile that were all shit and Foamstar on top of that? Pretty sure being PS5 only had no effect on this.

 

[vio55555]

FF7 Part 3 is what it is, they have to finish making that as good of a game as possible to sell Trilogy packs well into the future (even if 3 flops in terms of individual sales).

FF17 is the chance for a major pivot, and really this is about FF17-20 more than just a single game:

These sales issues are a clarion call to the SE brass to bring focus on try to rebuild FF across a series of games:

1) Abandon cutting edge graphics fidelity forever. I feel like this absolutely must be done now that Switch 2 is nearly out; it's okay to be a half-step back of the cutting edge and focus on releasing for all platforms simultaneously (including same launch dates for Switch 2 as well as PS5/PC/Xbox). Nintendo stepped back and all of their franchises have finally blossomed on Switch; there's an opportunity for SE to experience the same thing.

2a) Try to have a similar battle system/gameplay loop for 4-5 mainline games in a row; it can be some deriviation of the Rebirth/Part 3 battle system, but there needs to be consistency to help try to stabilize expectations instead of every game being so much more different.

2b) Try to establish some sort of consistency across games for a bunch of them (say 17-20) where it establishes a brand identity once again; it feels like the 12/13/15/16 are all so different in terms of gameplay/battle system, story, etc. that there's no real "FF identity" tying them together like there was for 7 through 10 which could be argued to be much more similar in a lot of ways.

3) Try to get back to releasing a mainline game every 4-5 years. I realize that's insanely difficult in today's day-and-age of exploding AAA budgets, but this ties into 1-2 in terms of simplifying the development process where possible. Releasing mainline games after 7-8 years prevents any kind of consistency across the fanbase, that's basically just 1 game for an entire childhood. Most people became fans because of multiple FF games not just one.

The positive of all this is that this can be a good lesson for SE that can make the next batch of mainline FF another golden generation of FFs like what happened in the mid to late 90s to early 00s.

 

[Bebpo]

What is the last game that Square Enix said met or exceeded expectations?


View: https://twitter.com/stephentotilo/status/1790230403178971385

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Octopath Traveler? All the HD2D games? DQXI?

 

[ChocoBuddy]

Unless Atlus manages to completely drop the ball, Persona 6 is going to trounce current Final Fantasy when it comes to both hype & sales.

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SEGA has been doing very well in this current climate with their JRPG properties. SE should emulate them (it looks like they kind of are going forward).

 

[entut1]

The problem I'm saying is that Final Fantasy doesn't have anything going for it if it doesn't have graphics as its selling point. As a franchise they simply do not have a hook anymore. It's not the art, it's not the writing, it's not the character designs, and the core gameplay literally changes completely every single game. There is no hook anymore.

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Ehhh... Final Fantasy has things going for it other than graphics, precisely the things said here. Sure the execution isn't hitting at full impact on all fronts all the time, but there's generally two or three of those aspects that do work VERY well each game. That's precisely why people love the series for different reasons, but that's not necessarily a bad thing. You may say there's no consistency in the hook, but I think that's part of the appeal.

What is a bad thing is limiting your audience severely, which closes the door to different ranges of people with particular tastes that would have an interest in your new FF entry's appeal, precisely for the stuff it does best, people that aren't always gonna be on numbers on PS consoles.

Do I say to dial down the graphics going forward? Not really, but maybe you should stop going UP. We're at a point where the next Switch can most likely boot PS4 Pro visuals with modern rendering techniques, and FF has already hit like most certainly the threshold in terms of what kind of spectacle they can showcase on the current gen. There's no graphical jump in the future that's going to severely impact the scope and spectacle the series has reached. Real-time cutscenes already nearly look like they're barely downgraded CG cutscenes.

 

[Fanuilos]

What is the last game that Square Enix said met or exceeded expectations?


View: https://twitter.com/stephentotilo/status/1790230403178971385

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I think that DQ Monsters game last year did relatively well.

 

[brain_]

Sucks because 16 and Rebirth are two of the best games I've played this past year. I hope whatever they do works because I don't want it to end 😔

 

[Kyrios]

It's sad that Rebirth isn't a financial success, but it and Remake are the happiest I've been with Square Enix since the PS2 days.

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Same. Rebirth is my game of this gen so far and the most I've loved a Final Fantasy since FF10. But yeah there should have absolutely been a PC version at launch with it.

 

[Toth]

What is the last game that Square Enix said met or exceeded expectations?


View: https://twitter.com/stephentotilo/status/1790230403178971385

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Indeed. From reading that article, alot of what he tweeted seems like his personal intepretation, not what SE actually said. I remain confident FFXVI will hit the 'mark'. whatever that is, but I cant see how Rebirth ever will.

And I do agree with Hero that aside from Dawntrail, SE does not have a heavy hitter anytime soon. I love Mana but that's not going to do it haha.

 

[cw_sasuke]

Capcom doesn't even make JRPGs, though. It's not as simple as "CAPCOM GOOD, SQUARE ENIX BAD". Trying to sell AAA JRPGs is not as simple as "BE CAPCOM, REAP THE REWARDS". Capcom owns the only viable AAA survival horror franchise in the entire industry, the single biggest fighting game IP in the industry next to Mortal Kombat and Smash Bros, and Monster Hunter. Those are the games that sell well.

Then you have DMC games, which are modest sellers compared to the other ones, and then you have literal turboflops like Exoprimal. It's not a magic formula Capcom knows and Square doesn't. Market dynamics are a lot more complex than that.

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There is no world in which SE would be happy with their big AAA mainline gamines selling 3-4 lmk may when the biggest other 3rdParty games from Japan sell +10m.

The stuff you list doesn't matter at the end of the day and it SE task to figure out why their games or projects arent hitting as well as they used. SE has been known as the top 3rd Party from Japan for decades and right now they are struggling to compete on the big scale, while also about to be humbled in their own area of strength with Persona picking up Steam.

You are not spending this type of money on your big games only to sell a bit more than the latest Tales Of title, there is a disconnect.

 

[MarcelloF]

FF16 was crap (Haven't tried the DLC yet), so I can't say I'm particularly bothered by it not selling great and at least I have some hope future games won't take all too many cues from it now.

On the other hand, Rebirth was fantastic and I want future games to take so much from it, but it sold even worse. So that sucks.

As for Foamstars, this was fully expected the second they announced it. It used AI art, so good riddance. 🤷‍♂️

I just hope there aren't any further lay-offs at Square after the ones in America in Europe.

For the future, I think Switch 2 (barring a Wii U-like disaster) and PC are pivotal to Square's success, so it's good they've decided to go full multiplat (Though, unfortunately I assume it's too late for FFR 3). I think it would be smart to build games around Switch 2 and have other platforms just improve on it, rather than porting down.

 

[PlanetSmasher]

Ehhh... Final Fantasy has things going for it other than graphics, precisely the things said here. Sure the execution isn't hitting at full impact on all fronts all the time, but there's generally two or three of those aspects that do work VERY well each game. That's precisely why people love the series for different reasons, but that's not necessarily a bad thing. You may say there's no consistency in the hook, but I think that's part of the appeal.

What is a bad thing is limiting your audience severely, which closes the door to different ranges of people with particular tastes that would have an interest in your new FF entry's appeal, precisely for the stuff it does best, people that aren't always gonna be on numbers on PS consoles.

Do I say to dial down the graphics going forward? Not really, but maybe you should stop going UP. We're at a point where the next Switch can most likely boot PS4 Pro visuals with modern rendering techniques, and FF has already hit like most certainly the threshold in terms of what kind of spectacle they can showcase on the current gen. There's no graphical jump in the future that's going to severely impact the scope and spectacle the series has reached. Real-time cutscenes already nearly look like they're barely downgraded CG cutscenes.

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I think the lack of consistency IS limiting their audience. The series constantly transforming every installment means you constantly carve off people who are pissed that the stuff they liked about the last game isn't being carried forward, and there's no guarantee you make up those losses with potential new fans.

I think that DQ Monsters game last year did relatively well.

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I thought they outright said that the most recent DQM game was a disappointment in one of their earnings calls.

There is no world in which SE would be happy with their big AAA mainline gamines selling 3-4 lmk may when the biggest other 3rdParty games from Japan sell +10m.

The stuff you list doesn't matter at the end of the day and it SE task to figure out why their games or projects arent hitting as well as they used. SE has been known as the top 3rd Party from Japan for decades and right now they are struggling to compete on the big scale, while also about to be humbled in their own area of strength with Persona picking up Steam.

You are not spending this type of money on your big games only to sell a bit more than the latest Tales Of title, there is a disconnect.

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Again, though, those 10M sellers are not JRPGs. It does not MATTER how many copies a Resident Evil game sells. They are different genres. You cannot just make a JRPG sell 10 million units if the genre does not have the pull necessary to support it.

The only JRPGs pulling 10m units are Pokemon games. And Square knows that.

 

[werezompire]

What is the last game that Square Enix said met or exceeded expectations?

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Don't know if they said anything specific, but Powerwash Simulator was a massive success (over 7 million players). So of course, they decide to fire a bunch of people in the Indie Publishing Division. Gah!

 

[Vigilante Joker]

All this isn't even counting the failure that was Forspoken and what happened to the studio afterward.

Really a surprised Pikachu moment. I mean, Capcom and Sega are right there and doing better than ever with multiplatform releases, lol.

 

[oty]

Unless Atlus manages to completely drop the ball, Persona 6 is going to trounce current Final Fantasy when it comes to both hype & sales.

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that says more about FF than anything else really. they went from a massive 10m seller, 5m+ day freaking one, with hugely succesful mobile title to....Remake, XVI and now Rebirth in 8 years

 

[Sgs2008]

SE should have released these games day 1 on PC.

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Such a no brainer. They make baffling decisions

 

[Bonefish]

Sad but not surprising. Shoulda launched day and date on PC, not to mention PS5 being essentially a non factor in Japan itself, and the PS brand resonating less and less with fans of Japanese games in general.

 

[The Lord of Cereal]

Oufties, BOTH major titles missed the mark(at least long term for one). Though it's a good start, I don't think going multiplat is gonna solve this issue, they REALLY gotta get people to give a shit about this franchise again. We'll see if PC ports can get these two titles to make their long term goals, but I'm really curious on how they'll manage to get this series into being a thing again.

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I mean, I think that multiplatform releases (or at least, PC releases) would actually solve those issues though. Final Fantasy 15 is still the best selling Final Fantasy game, and that was a game that was released everywhere day and date. The fact of the matter is that if FF7 Rebirth had at least launched on PC at the same time as the PS5 release (and a PC port was good) that it would have been likely to have sold quite a bit more. JRPGs do really good on PC, as Granblue, Persona 3 Reload and Yakuza 8 have all shown this year alone, and there's no reason to believe that Rebirth wouldn't have also done really well. And realistically, going multiplatform is a way to get people to give a shit about the franchise again. Currently any PC players who would have been interested in FF7 Rebirth and potentially bought it would go "oh that looks cool" and then see it's not on PC and then move on. By the time it does eventually hit PC in several months it'll be too late, all the hype surrounding the game will be gone and it probably won't hit with the same impact.

And realistically while Xbox is a small platform (and historically even more so for JRPGs) it's also still a platform of several million players, many of whom bought FF15 and have been buying more JRPGs in recent years. Obviously they're less important than PC, but realistically the extra cost of porting to Xbox at launch is probably worthwhile, as even Yakuza 8 managed to be pretty successful on Xbox without Game Pass

 

[Ant_17]

Don't know if they said anything specific, but Powerwash Simulator was a massive success (over 7 million players). So of course, they decide to fire a bunch of people in the Indie Publishing Division. Gah!

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Did you mean to say sales? Cause counting players from Gamepass doesn't work anymore.