Rickyrozay2o9

Member
Dec 11, 2017
4,643
If Final Fantasy VII Remake isn't a Switch 2 launch title, they've already fucked up. Pull out all the stops to get it there immediately.

That would sell well imo at say $40 USD.

Then release Rebirth later in the year.
We don't even have Rebirth on the PC yet, no way that's going to happen. Remake on the other hand should be quite easy to get ready early on though. We also still have to see what their port timeline will look like because I don't believe these guys can go multi on FF titles and have all the games ready day 1 across the board. I do think Nintendo and Steam/PC will be where most of your consumers are though outside of Sony alone and the Xbox I'm assuming would just be the easiest to port to.
 
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Hero

One Winged Slayer
Member
Oct 25, 2017
7,098
Finally, after so long of telling people that the biggest hurdle to FF's growth is the exclusivity to Playstation, the new CEO just outright tells it to their investors. Feels good to be right.

Unfortunate it will take several years before this comes to fruition but better late than never.
 
Apr 5, 2022
1,406
Great. Now, hopefully FF16 and Rebirth PC ports are actually good, that would be a nice first step.

As someone who has played Square Enix's PC ports, sometimes I feel that while its awesome for it to be ported, I feel they do such a bleh job that they're asking for people to crap on them which is why I just stick to playing them on my PS4/PS5 or even sometimes Xbox. Wasn't the FFXIII PC ports not that good or am I remembering wrong? I know FF7R was rough at the start then slowly got better I think...
 
Oct 27, 2017
6,491
Melbourne, Australia
Good, I hope this is the end of FF exclusives. I assume FFVIIR3 will be another exclusive, so I'm not getting my hopes up there, but anything else? I want to see the games launch across PC/Xbox/PlayStation and enjoy as much success as possible.
 

dark494

Avenger
Oct 29, 2017
4,619
Seattle
The MMO's and mobile games are still carrying their income, and the traditional games losses keep increasing. Not looking good there...
 

kakteen

Member
Apr 9, 2024
103
As someone who has played Square Enix's PC ports, sometimes I feel that while its awesome for it to be ported, I feel they do such a bleh job that they're asking for people to crap on them which is why I just stick to playing them on my PS4/PS5 or even sometimes Xbox. Wasn't the FFXIII PC ports not that good or am I remembering wrong? I know FF7R was rough at the start then slowly got better I think...
I still remember that NierAutomata was really annoying to play but got better once the FAR mod came out
 

Mikch85

Member
May 12, 2018
3,603
Chicken/egg situation. Sony probably isn't interested anymore, for various reasons (super weak competition, not worth it etc...) Square is probably worried to lose Japan if they don't support Switch 2 and to a lesser extent PC.

Makes sense overall.

Kinda annoyed by these "they should be like Capcom." They released just as many great games as them, but whatever I guess
 

Johnny Blaze

Avenger
Oct 29, 2017
4,264
DE
I guess Sony is losing interest of acquiring or paying boatloads of money for timed exclusives.
Probably not feasible for any of the parties anymore, Final Fantasy as a franchise is not moving consoles, and having it exclusive tanks potential sales.

The remake deal was made when, 2015 or something probably? Totally different times now and then.
 

mentok15

Member
Dec 20, 2017
7,532
Australia
Nintendo's hardware is always several steps behind how's that gonna work. I imagine multiplatform development is gonna take more work, I remember back in the day when Wii releases of HD games resulted in completely different games from the Xbox and PlayStation counterpart.
The Switch 2 will be closer to modern systems than the Wii was. It might be last gen in raw performance but in features it's just as modern as XSX/PS5. Easiest solution would be just to set Switch 2 as the base for future game development.
 

Abrasion Test

Member
Oct 27, 2017
1,846
Tbh I think file size will be the biggest barrier for Rebirth on Switch 2. The game is absolutely massive. They will definitely need to cut back on textures along with maybe FMVs and audio compression.
Nintendo ports are still going to be a matter of "when it makes sense." HW being better won't solve the time it takes to build games on a new platform with infrastructure different to the others. And on a system where game sales are absolutely dominated by first party.

I expect more games built primarily for Switch 2 like Octopath 1, now with an actual multiplat strategy instead of a publisher paying for late ports.
 

BeeDog

Member
Oct 26, 2017
4,674
Honest question, how does this differ from their recent comments and, for example, being on stage together with Xbox? Is it that it's explicitly stated in their short-term plans now?

Anyway, I guess this is a way for them to open up for more games (DQ12/KH4 most likely) on Switch 2 since that's probably where the strongest market will be. Xbox will likely continue to be a side-note considering the weak sales there. Interesting to see if this actually has any effect on FF16 or the FF7 remake trilogy.
 

Oleander

Member
Oct 25, 2017
1,593
People will jump on the mainline Final Fantasy titles, but I'm just as delighted that Square-Enix's multiplatform approach means things won't be stuck on PC/Switch as well. You can't play Harvestella, Triangle Strategy, and Dragon Quest Monsters on PS5 either under the current approach.
 

Mikch85

Member
May 12, 2018
3,603
People will jump on the mainline Final Fantasy titles, but I'm just as delighted that Square-Enix's multiplatform approach means things won't be stuck on PC/Switch either. You can't play Harvestella, Triangle Strategy, and Dragon Quest Monsters on PS5 either under the current approach.
I mean... you won't play these anyway, Square won't make games like these anymore...
 

LAA

One Winged Slayer
Member
Oct 28, 2017
2,404
Well hoping this means they will actually remember KH on steam now, honestly must be a bunch of money they can make there for little cost.
Surprised there was no mention of the KH IP in their slides though, I guess it's because it's technically Disney owned (Or at least partly?)

Otherwise, I guess the timed exclusive angle isn't working out as well for them as they hoped and I'm fine with it if it means we get PC releases faster and etc. FF7 Rebirth deserved to sell well, hoping the inevitable PC release for that puts it in a good place, seems strange the sales still haven't been stated for that, or even what their expectations were.

Hopefully can do better with their smartphone games too, nice it seems they want continue the trend of porting them to PC too. Feels their games lately have just been too greedy to the point I don't even want to play the game, FF7 EC was ridiculous, should have been a game I would love, but the grinding (or paying) to continue playing the game just became far too ridiculous, so hope there's more focus on their part on making these games good and therefore played for longer and stay up for longer.
 
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Firima

Member
Oct 27, 2017
4,505
Square has already gotten their fans to self-sort into the PlayStation ecosystem; not sure how much this changes
I guess Sony is losing interest of acquiring or paying boatloads of money for timed exclusives.
likely because the above has already happened, leaving Square with little leverage to use in negotiations and Sony with no reason to pay out.

Good luck, Square!
 

Atom

Member
Jul 25, 2021
11,817
"cannibalization of schedule due to launch overlap" -- well at least they can see the obvious now I guess. 22 games in a year or something was it.

Launching curated SD titles with a greater hit rate makes sense, there's some cool stuff they could do with mobile but live service titles you shut down after 6 months isn't it.

More management oversight and less producer fiefdoms by the sounds of it.

Good that they're gonna pursue more PC friendly initiatives --- KINGDOM HEARTS? KINGDOM HEARTS?????

Overall it's about what you'd expect. Very little commentary in the bullets it feels like in terms of sales expectations. Amortization seems to have been a big hit. Not exactly surprising given 2 very large titles that aren't exactly setting the world on fire.
 

Celestial Descend

Corrupted by Vengeance
Member
Aug 15, 2022
3,542
I mean... you won't play these anyway, Square won't make games like these anymore...
They will definitely keep making Dragon Quest Monster at least, and I expect Team Asano to be safe as he just got a big promotion. Harvest Stella... yeah we not seeing that again, especially when the director has left SE.
 

GhostTrick

Member
Oct 25, 2017
11,499
Chicken/egg situation. Sony probably isn't interested anymore, for various reasons (super weak competition, not worth it etc...) Square is probably worried to lose Japan if they don't support Switch 2 and to a lesser extent PC.

Makes sense overall.

Kinda annoyed by these "they should be like Capcom." They released just as many great games as them, but whatever I guess


As you said, it's a chicken/egg situation:
When FF was selling millions and was releasing on Xbox back then, Sony paid to keep FFVII Remake on PS4.
By doing so, FFVII Remake sold worse. XVI then sold even worse. VII Rebirth even worse. Therefore the value of the franchise lowered with each entry, as you can see with the smaller window for exclusivity.

On top of that, they got free exclusivity after these deals ended since SE didn't bother working on a port beforehand. FFXVI should've released 6 months ago elsewhere and Rebirth in 2 weeks.
None of these are ready for a release.
 

Brodo Baggins

Member
Oct 27, 2017
4,114
Nintendo ports are still going to be a matter of "when it makes sense." HW being better won't solve the time it takes to build games on a new platform with infrastructure different to the others. And on a system where game sales are absolutely dominated by first party.

I expect more games built primarily for Switch 2 like Octopath 1, now with an actual multiplat strategy instead of a publisher paying for late ports.

I see no reason they wouldn't port Remake to Switch 2 to at least test the waters. The system will be more than capable of running it.

Releasing one of their AAA games as a launch title would make it something of a graphical showcase for the console at a time with relatively little AAA competition. I think for SE the question is really, which of their AAA games to slot into the launch window. Visions of Mana also seems like a good bet.

Rebirth would probably only be considered if the theoretical Remake port succeeds.
 

BBboy20

One Winged Slayer
Member
Oct 25, 2017
22,401
Insufficient portfolio management on a franchise-by-franchise basis
└ Cannibalization of our new titles due to the launch schedule's overlap


Oh my, did they just admitted that they "fucked up" with that fall line up of, what, 2022?
 

Rickyrozay2o9

Member
Dec 11, 2017
4,643
Nintendo ports are still going to be a matter of "when it makes sense." HW being better won't solve the time it takes to build games on a new platform with infrastructure different to the others. And on a system where game sales are absolutely dominated by first party.

I expect more games built primarily for Switch 2 like Octopath 1, now with an actual multiplat strategy instead of a publisher paying for late ports.
Right, this is where I'm getting at. Which is why I'm going to say realistically Squares major titles KH, FF maybe even DQ probably won't make all platforms day and date. Nintendo ports especially would most likely be down the line with specific titles like you mentioned coming out potentially on release from another division.
 

Mikch85

Member
May 12, 2018
3,603
User banned (1 day): Trolling. Platform wars.
Well, Switch owners are OK with butchered ports of way too demanding games. Can't see this change with Switch 2.
 

Homura

▲ Legend ▲
Member
Aug 20, 2019
6,159
Right, this is where I'm getting at. Which is why I'm going to say realistically Squares major titles KH, FF maybe even DQ probably won't make all platforms day and date. Nintendo ports especially would most likely be down the line with specific titles like you mentioned coming out potentially on release from another division.
Dragon Quest is absolutely going to be Nintendo first. That's where most of the sales come from, if XI is any indication.
 

Squall93

Member
Oct 29, 2017
316
Paris
Capcom also got like 6-7 million for MH Rise timed exclusivity.
You have to take into account that developing on a single platform is much simpler. Especially when we see the portages from S.E.

Finally, after so long of telling people that the biggest hurdle to FF's growth is the exclusivity to Playstation, the new CEO just outright tells it to their investors. Feels good to be right.

Unfortunate it will take several years before this comes to fruition but better late than never.

I'm not sure that in the end the games will make much more total sales. They will have a better start yes, but in terms of final sales I think we will stay at the same level between 7 and 10 million for the FF
 

Geode

Keeper of the White Materia
Member
Oct 27, 2017
4,627
Whoa, SE had a major increase in download sales in Japan last fiscal year. I wonder if digital sales are starting to pick up in Japan?
 

GhostTrick

Member
Oct 25, 2017
11,499
You have to take into account that developing on a single platform is much simpler. Especially when we see the portages from S.E.


SE's ports aren't fundamentally broken. It's often a lack of polish that could've been fixed if they cared.
Developping on multiple platforms isn't magic. A lot of companies can manage it. I'm sure SE can too.
The fact that it's a little bit simpler to release for a single platform is meager compared to the lost sales.
 

Rickyrozay2o9

Member
Dec 11, 2017
4,643
Dragon Quest is absolutely going to be Nintendo first. That's where most of the sales come from, if XI is any indication.
Yeah, I forgot DQ is already on the Switch. They weren't day and date though, right? I believe the PC was first, but I could be wrong. Regardless I wouldn't be surprised if Nintendo was bigger on sales for most of Square's titles compared to PC/Steam if the ports weren't 2+ years after and at the right price.
 
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Re-Tails

Member
Aug 16, 2020
247
Sure. In the timeline where SE didn't fuck up the sales of part 1 and 2.
I think we're all expecting SE to release a 'complete edition' at some point as well. I agree with you though, don't think part 3 will get close to how the first game performed. But a complete edition will def outperform how badly part 2 did.