Pretty much. As an Xbox owner who would have purchased those game, my heart is not exactly bleeding for them atm
Years of people saying "FF15 legging it out to 10 million copies sold was actually bad" really looks silly now when SE would kill for those kinda of sales/legs.
The only way to get Ito and Matsuno to do make an FF game again.
I loved the bear sex in Elden Ring, God of War Ragnarok, Horizon: FW, The wizard game, Star Wars Jedi Survivor, Zelda ToTK, Spider-Man 2 that made these mostly SP experience sell well.
FF games are standalone. But I do think the confusing numbering + spinoffs etc. are part of the reason new fans are reluctant to join in.
Baldur's Gate 3 and Witcher 3 and Elder Scrolls 5 and Final Fantasy 15 say this is a nonsense argument and always has been.
zero considering they already said they are a shifting to a multiplatform strategy
They've literally has announced major strategic pivots just recently, including committing to multiplatform development. This is not an isolated report.
I'd say it's more the actual Final Fantasy that had an audience with people who weren't already nostalgic for the franchise, FF15, was completely abandoned. If you liked 15 where were you supposed to go next, the following games didn't build off of it or even have a connection to it. I get the historical significance of FF games all being different 20-30 years ago, but now that every other game has surpassed it graphically what selling point does FF actually have with audiences who only got to experience 13 and 15
I assume that contracts with Sony have already been signed regarding that, and now they can't just step down from them.
We can't say for sure which games are losing money, but we do know HD as a whole is in the red so without a doubt that at least some of them are outright losing money and the rest of the slate isn't doing well enough to make up for the shortfalls. Possible they'd turn a profit in the long term, but it's safe to say at the moment that some of them are not profitable games.
SaGa has been doing non-linear player expression since the 90s and shows that you can make a JRPG that as far as events go is player driven.
While there is no denying that those things helped BG3 a lot, let's not forget that Divinity Original Sin 2 also sold a lot of copies (around 8 million copies last we heard) and that wasn't proper D&D nor did it have a viral bear sex moment.
I am completely unfamiliar with the Saga franchise. Which games would you recommend for a newcomer like me?
Considering how much of a "mess" XV was and how much it sold, it's actually kinda baffling that they didn't just refine that to make a finished product now that they had a base to work from.
the friendliest would be either SaGa : Scarlet Grace or the shiny new SaGa Emerald Beyond.
considering 3m was a target for XVI, which is nothing out of the extraordinary, probably something...really normal, as much as people say SE is incapable of doing lmfao
XV did represent a sharp decline in japanese sales compared to previous titles though. of course, context varies since it was a PS4 title and whatnot, but what XV did well was just selling...better overall, specially internationally.
