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Final Fantasy 16 Extremely Underperformed On PC; Sold Only 289K Units Since Launch

ProtoByte

Weeb Underling
I don’t want them to make a BG3 ripoff. I want them to make a FFX ripoff. I just brought up BG3 as an example of an old game series that was modernized without completely switching genres.
I have doubts that it translates to FFX. The thing about CRPGs is that they were actually ahead of their time and never got the kind of production values needed to bring out the fullest potential. I doubt that applies to turn based JRPGs like FF.

Do you think a FF10 released today would do much better than FF16?
 

unlurkified

Member
With the exception of a few boss fights, they made the game way too easy and watered down. You end up playing for the spectacle, but even the best of that is in the very beginning of the game. The game wasn’t a complete package.
 

xenosys

Member
Both square and Sony need to learn if you're going after the pc market the need to release same time as console just for the hype buys alone. Pc players don't like to wait years for a half assed port. By then they've moved on to other games.

Ff16 would have sold a million at least plus same whatever it sold on console of it launched same as console.

Also FF brand just isn't what it used to be. Nobody is buying a console just to play FF. Far to much choice.

Just about ALL of Square Enix portfolio of games this year have gotten D1 releases on just about every platform, so it's not like they never do it. They ALMOST ALWAYS do it.

The problem is their biggest IP is being cock-blocked by their own stupidity and an unhealthy attachment to Sony.
 

AmuroChan

Member
One is a live service game and the other one is GTA. Why ignore the countless examples and use obvious exceptions?

Because that's my personal experience. I played SoT when it came to PS. I played GTAV on PC when it came out in 2015. Playing games on day 1 has never been a huge factor for me and rarely impacts my purchasing decision.
 

Celcius

°Temp. member
I did my part.
They need to release a patch to get rid of the freezing issue though. Not unplayable but annoying when it happens.
 

Durin

Member
Unless your game is massive, or getting new updates/expanded content...releasing later is always going to yield worse sales than timing things to hit on all platforms at the same time.

The exclusivity thing only seems to benefit first parties or smaller studios that just need to cash to finish development. Third-party AAA needs to be multi-plat to succeed, and keep the budget down.
 

BennyBlanco

aka IMurRIVAL69
I have doubts that it translates to FFX. The thing about CRPGs is that they were actually ahead of their time and never got the kind of production values needed to bring out the fullest potential. I doubt that applies to turn based JRPGs like FF.

Do you think a FF10 released today would do much better than FF16?

dumb-and-dumber-uh.gif


Look at Expedition 33. Who is FFXVI made for? Not for fans of the series. If you removed the window dressing nostalgiabait like chocobis it’s completely unrecognizable as an entry in the FF series.
 

vkbest

Member
They released it a year later and are shocked that game didnt have the same hype as at its initial launch?

Square-Enix never ceases to amaze me.

Day One or bust motherfuckers .
And yet Mass effect 2 sold over 3 million copies in PS3, 2 years after releasing on other platforms. Maybe PC is not the paradise some people preach
 
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I might have gotten it day 1 if it launch on PC but lost the interest for it. I will however still be getting Rebirth for the PC when it comes since I love the art style, characters, story a lot more even after spoiling a lot of things. I did the same for FFVII Remake Intergrade, still got that after I already spoiled it.
 

ProtoByte

Weeb Underling
Look at Expedition 33.
The game isn’t out yet, and I’m impressed by a Charlie Cox feature or Ben Starr’s voice acting. Given your opinions on 16, I doubt you would be either.

I expect that game to perform okay at best.

Who is FFXVI made for? Not for fans of the series. If you removed the window dressing nostalgiabait like chocobis it’s completely unrecognizable as an entry in the FF series.
That was the argument against XV, and it climbed to 10 million sales.

Each FF has its own set of fans. There’s obviously a lot of crossover, but the IP is very malleable. As such, the consistency doesn’t matter: FF16 just isn’t that appealing. And I don’t think a callback to FF10 would be any more appealing in 2024.
 

Ozzie666

Member
The pacing of the story is terrible and the side quests are laughable at best with no meaning. Pretty game with no soul.
Some good characters and boss fights can't save it. So not surprised it didn't do well on PC.
 

tusharngf

Member
ff16 is not a traditional FF game at all. They made devil may fry in FF world. PC folks love the old school turn based games.
 

MagiusNecros

Gilgamesh Fan Annoyance
XIV should die, SE needs make a new non wow mmo
I doubt they will ever make another MMO on FFXI's or DQX's level. Unless DQXII turns out to be a MMO. FFXIV is just a WoW clone. Given the recent patch and the absurdly low amount of content they push every 4 months you can get away with not paying a sub fee and just abuse the free log in campaigns.
 

DenchDeckard

Moderated wildly
This was more a the last remnant than a final fantasy game and Sony paid to allow everyone to find that out before it launched on pc.

No wonder it didn't sell. These devs never learn.
 

gerth666

Member
Most people disagree 'mate'

Screenshot-20241116-105103-Chrome.jpg


It's a well received game overall. People just like injecting their own reality into things that the general population don't agree with.
As soon as it releases on Xbox, that numpty will soon have a change of heart on the games quality. Just like he did with death stranding.
Best not engage with these fools
 

Mayar

Member
How would those people know if it's a shit game if they "voted" to not play it? The people who played it generally liked it though. No two ways about it.
That is, we are really going to take as a metric a site where anyone can create a bunch of accounts, give ratings, given that most ratings are usually either 10 or 1? This site has long since lost all relevance. You can get a more or less normal metric by roughly speaking, how games of the same series were sold over time, and how overall sales moved.

And when we have the same FF 15 with sales of > 10 million copies (Although I didn't really like the game), and then you release the following products and none of them can break the 5 million mark, well, something clearly went wrong somewhere. All the latest FF games were very coolly received by fans of the series in all regions, and were subjected to quite strong criticism.
 
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Three

Gold Member
That is, we are really going to take as a metric a site where anyone can create a bunch of accounts, give ratings, given that most ratings are usually either 10 or 1? This site has long since lost all relevance. You can get a more or less normal metric by roughly speaking, how games of the same series were sold over time, and how overall sales moved.
So you're dismissing reality because "anybody can leave a review" on that site? How about this then? Only those who bought it, right:

Screenshot-20241116-110853-Chrome.jpg

And when we have the same FF 15 with sales of > 10 million copies, and then you release the following products and none of them can break the 5 million mark, well, something clearly went wrong somewhere. All the latest FF dust games were very coolly received by fans of the series in all regions, and were subjected to quite strong criticism.
Premium games have been selling less than their 7th gen counterparts in general as free to play/GaaS has taken over but there are a lot of good games that don't get sales. I bet if I named some xbox/PC game like Hifi rush, or some PC indie darling and told him it sold shit so must be a shite game he'd/you'd be up in arms.
 
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hyperbertha

Member
How would those people know if it's a shit game if they "voted" to not play it? The people who played it generally liked it though. No two ways about it.
The people who played it generally hated it. Go look at the ot. The majority likes the first half, then pretty much everyone agrees it went to shit real fast. The games a dud. Sorry.
 

Three

Gold Member
The people who played it generally hated it. Go look at the ot. The majority likes the first half, then pretty much everyone agrees it went to shit real fast. The games a dud. Sorry.
Not really no. I think that's just your own confirmation bias.
 

Mayar

Member
So you're dismissing reality because "anybody can leave a review" on that site? How about this then? Only those who bought it, right:

Screenshot-20241116-110853-Chrome.jpg


Premium games have been selling less than their 7th gen counterparts in general as free to play/GaaS has taken over but there are a lot of good games that don't get sales. I bet if I named some xbox/PC game like Hifi rush, or some PC indie darling and told him it sold shit so must be a shite game he'd be up in arms.
You just posted a screenshot showing positive reviews, and I wrote to you that ratings on Aggregators do not reflect game sales. These are two different things, we have games that have positive ratings and they do not sell, we have games that have a rating that is reduced to zero and they continue to bring in millions (Overwatch 2 - as an example). Of course, everyone would like ratings to influence sales, but they do not.

The only rating that really matters is whether or not people wanted to spend their money on your game. And if they didn't want to, then you need to sit down and figure out why there was such a sharp decline in demand. Although, other publishers Sega and Capcom, on the contrary, have a sharp increase in demand on all platforms.
 

Three

Gold Member
You just posted a screenshot showing positive reviews, and I wrote to you that ratings on Aggregators do not reflect game sales. These are two different things, we have games that have positive ratings and they do not sell, we have games that have a rating that is reduced to zero and they continue to bring in millions (Overwatch 2 - as an example). Of course, everyone would like ratings to influence sales, but they do not.
The steam reviews are those who bought the game because you were trying to dismiss people's opinions and reality with this nugget:

That is, we are really going to take as a metric a site where anyone can create a bunch of accounts, give ratings..

So I gave you steam reviews where it is verified purchases. Where people have to have voted with their wallet and bought the game and liked the game.
What's bizarre is that you're favouring discourse on a forum over it. Like any console warring Tom, Dick, and Harry can't come and leave a comment.
The only rating that really matters is whether or not people wanted to spend their money on your game.
If you say so but like I said a lot of good/liked games sell low numbers. It has nothing to do with how well received that game was. 3M+ isn't even a low number of sales relatively speaking.

Your talks about Capcom are not true either. Resident Evil 8 sales vs previous Resident Evil 7.

"However, it's not got close to the sales of previous Resident Evil games. Sales are down over 25% compared with the launch of Resident Evil 2: Remake (released in 2019) and almost 40% down compared with 2017's Resident Evil 7"

As I said premium game sales are generally tanking with most franchises.
 
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Mayar

Member
The steam reviews are those who bought the game because you were trying to dismiss people's opinions and reality with this nugget:



So I gave you steam reviews where it is verified purchases. Where people have to have voted with their wallet and bought the game and liked the game.
What's bizarre is that you're favouring discourse on a forum over it. Like any console warring Tom, Dick, and Harry can't come and leave a comment.

If you say so but like I said a lot of good/liked games sell low numbers. It has nothing to do with how well received that game was. 3M+ isn't even a low number of sales relatively speaking.
And this once again shows the fact that even positive reviews on Steam did not help the game's sales.
When your game budget is 250+ million, 3 million copies sold, it's just a mathematical error. And the reality of today's AAA industry.

I can say this about myself. Previously, I didn't need any press, metacritics, etc. And they simply weren't there, they released a game of the FF series and I just went to the store and bought it right on the day of release - 7-8-9-10-12-13 (It was a wild pain) - 15. Now I buy FF games mainly on sales when the price drops, there is no more hype about FF games.
 

Kokoloko85

Member
“It didnt release day 1” Neither did Final Fantasy 15, GTA5, RDR1, Ghost of Tsushima, God of War and plenty of other games.

“Its not good” - Scores in high 80’s and better rated than FF15

“The combat isnt traditional” Every played FF11, FF12, FF14 and FF15?

Sometimes certain games just dont sell on a platform
 

Kokoloko85

Member
Since when "game being good" got anyhthing to do with it's sales? Are you kidding me? Look at top steamdb games.
Biggest gaas stinkers made by 1 person in their bathroom get most sales on pc.
FF 16 is incredibly high quality. It is Incredibly good game. It goes on for a bit too long in the middle part but no game is perfect.
It is a great single player game. nothing more. Maybe people expected another elden ring

It’s all just excuses.

-Not released on day 1: Neither was Final Fantasy 15 or any other Final Fantasy
-Not a good game: Scored high 80’s and better than Final Fantasy 13 and 15.
-It’s not traditional combat: Way better than non traditional Final Fantasy 15 combat. And FF11, FF12 AND FF14 don't have tradtional combat either.
 
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