Summary
After supposedly recording lukewarm sales figures forFinal Fantasy 16andFinal Fantasy 7 Rebirth,Square Enixhas confirmed that it will shift to a multiplatform publishing strategy for future releases. Both of the newestFinal Fantasygames launched as PS5 timed exclusives, which many argue is the reason behindSquare Enix’swoes with their commercial performance.
Square Enix and PlayStation have a tight-knit relationship dating all the way back to the PS1 days, especially when it comes toFinal Fantasy. WhenFinal Fantasy 7launched on the PS1 in 1997, it sold over 10 million copies and established itself as the second best-selling game on the console. Likewise, 2020’sFinal Fantasy 7 Remakemanaged very impressive saleswhen it launched exclusively on the PS4. Square Enix and Sony kept the exclusivity streak going for the PS5, with major releases likeForspoken,Final Fantasy 16,Foamstars, and most recently,Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth, all being timed exclusives on the current-gen console.
Unfortunately, a newly publishedSquare Enix earnings reportshows that the PS5 timed exclusivity may have been a detriment to mass market adoption for the company’s major HD releases. It’s worth noting that this briefing was originally held in May 2024, whenSquare Enix first confirmed plans for a multiplatform push, but the report was made public a few hours ago. Speaking about the results, Square Enix president Takashi Kiryu said that the company launched “multiple new titles” in the “HD Games sub-segment,” which includesFinal Fantasy 16andFinal Fantasy 7 Rebirth, butprofits fell short of expectations.
Square Enix Found Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth’s “Initial Sales” Disappointing
Kiryu also remarked that the initial sales ofFoamstarsandFinal Fantasy 7 Rebirthwere “not as strong as expected.” However, this shouldn’t be taken as confirmation ofFinal Fantasy 7 Rebirthbeing a commercial failure, since the game had been out for just over a month when this earnings call was held. Moreover, Kiryu’s previous comment doesn’t specifically point toFinal Fantasy 16andFinal Fantasy 7 Rebirthfalling short of financial expectations, but rather Square Enix’s entire slate of HD releases in the previous fiscal year.
This turmoil surrounding the return-on-investment for PlayStation-exclusiveFinal Fantasygames happened last year as well. Square Enix’s stock price took a major nosedive afterFinal Fantasy 16launched in June 2023, leading many to assume that the game commercially underperformed on PS5 and subsequently caused the drop.Square Enix later clarified thatFinal Fantasy 16did meet sales expectations, albeit not at the “high end.” There’s also a case to be made about Square Enix’s internal expectations possibly being too lofty.
Regardless, Kiryu’s comments suggest that Square Enix is indeed doing away with exclusivity for big future releases. The next mainlineFinal Fantasygame may well be a multiplatform title, and existing titles likeFinal Fantasy 7 RemakeandFinal Fantasy 16might finally show up on Xbox too. It should also be interesting to see whetherPlayStation has a timed exclusivity agreement for the thirdFinal Fantasy 7 Remakeentry.
