Never Ending Realm

Video game reviews, fan fiction, gaming news, and more! Since 2003. We especially love JRPGs, RPGs and the best of the rest. Never Ending Realm: Where your favorite games live forever!

Menu
  • News
    • PlayStation
    • Nintendo
    • Xbox
    • PC
    • Mobile
  • Fan Fiction
  • Opinion
    • Throwback Bit Thursday
    • Games Costing A Kidney
    • Thank God It’s Friday
  • Lists
  • Reviews
  • Humor
  • About
Menu
Aerith Rebirth

FFVII: Rebirth Has Not Sold As Well as Remake at Similar Junctures. Did Remake Turn Off OG FFVII Fans?

Posted on July 18, 2024July 19, 2024 by Samuel Rivera

Despite Final Fantasy VII: Rebirth being the highest rated (92 rating) Final Fantasy game on Metracritic since 2006’s Final Fantasy XII (92 rating). Back in April, industry analyst, Daniel Ahmad, said that research in sales tracking data revealed that the latest Final Fantasy game based on the franchise’s most popular game (Final Fantasy VII) is has sold only half the amount of copies that Remake (its predecessor) sold in the same amount of time.

By May, Square Enix had kept a tight lid on the game’s sales numbers. This is usually not a good sign. When a game is performing as, or better than expected, publishers are quick to release numbers to the press in order to further boost the game’s popularity. Suspicions of the game’s slower than expected sales where all but confirmed when – as reported by Bloomberg- Square Enix president Takashi Kiryu told analysts that FFVII: Rebirth is among several titles that have recently fallen short of expectations, along with Final Fantasy XVI.

It would seem that critical acclaim did not help Final Fantasy VII: Rebirth to break the downward commercial spiral that has plagued the series.

Given the fact that Final Fantasy VII: Rebirth addressed many of the issues present on Remake, and delivered a far more compelling Action-RPG experience, why is it selling less?

It its Possible Massive Story Changes Including the New Alternate Timeline Turned Off Long Time Fans?

Final FAntasy VII Rebirth 1

Personally, despite the fact that Rebirth looks and plays better than Remake, the game still runs on Unreal Engine 4, and an argument can be made that despite the ageless artwork, and Square Enix’s masterful conversion of 1997 visuals to the modern era, the game is nowhere nearly as visually impressive as say…Horizon Forbidden West. So, visuals weren’t something that attracted me to this product (or Remake). I waited months to play Rebirth, mainly because I disliked Nomura’s “new Timeline” shenanigans.

Final Fantas VII Remake and Rebirth are sequels to the original game. Sequels that were marketed as a remake, but sequels at their core, nonetheless. I have seen many angry comments regarding the direction Nomura and his team took Final Fantasy VII’s universe into. I believe this decision has comeback to bite Rebirth, which is a vastly superior game to Remake, in the proverbial arse.

Frankly, if Rebirth ends up selling half of what Remake did lifetime wise, Square Enix will finish this trilogy (it would be a massive blow to the company’s image if it doesn’t), but I assume other potential FF remake projects will be put on hold.

It is Also Possible Final Fantasy is Just no Longer the Juggernaut That it was in the 1990s, and Early 2000s

Aerith Tifa Rebirth
FFVII: Rebirth certainly has appealing features for Aerith and Tifa fans everywhere.

Firing a series creator, and prostituting a franchise to different development teams can be costly. The Legend of Zelda, and Super Mario have thrived since the 1980s, Final Fantasy hasn’t shared the same fate because Square Enix has never been able to replicate the critical and commercial success of Hironobu Sakaguchi’s run with the series.

Over the last decade and a half, Final Fantasy has lost its appeal, and frankly, gamers have moved on to other games. Square Enix did a fine job in alienating many of its core fan base, and an equally poor job in attracting a new wave of Final Fantasy zealots. Until Rebirth (which despite my reservations in terms of storytelling is a pretty good game), the company’s Final Fantasy efforts were caught up in no man’s land. These games were too different from what the core base had loved to keep that fan base happy, and too pedestrian in its modern take of the gaming to garner massive success with a new generation of gamers.

It seems that Rebirth is now paying for the sins of its forbearers. That said, if Square Enix ever decides to remake the legendary Final Fantasy VI, my first advice would be not to change the outline, and major points of the story. The 2nd would be not to split the game into different parts.

Gamers who play these single player RPGs usually want complete experiences.

Agree with the author? Couldn’t disagree more and are frothing at the mouth to tell him? Leave a comment here, on Facebook or send an email and make sure to follow Never Ending Realm on Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube!

Category: Opinion
Tags: Action-RPG, Final Fantasy VII Rebirth, Final Fantasy VII Remake, PlayStation 5, RPG, Sony, Square Enix

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Follow us on social media!

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • YouTube
  • Instagram

Must Reads

  • 2023 is Here and The Never Ending Realm Turns 20 Years Old
  • Throwback Bit Thursday: Remembering a Merry 1998 Christmas 
  • A Mid 2022 PlayStation 5 vs Xbox Series X Comparison
  • TBT: Five Critically Underrated 32-Bit Era JRPGs
  • The Rise and Fall of Japanese Role-Playing Games (JRPGs)
  • Yoshida: Final Fantasy is Struggling to Keep Up With Industry Trends
  • The Top Ten Greatest Final Fantasy Games of All-Time
  • Top Ten Greatest ‘The Legend of Zelda’ Games of All Time
  • 5 Of The Best JRPG Heroes
  • The Top 10 Best Selling PlayStation 2 JRPGs (All Time Sales)

Action-Adventure Action-RPG Bandai/Namco Bethesda CD PROJEKT RED Chrono Cross Cyberpunk 2077 Final Fantasy (Series) Final Fantasy IX Final Fantasy VI Final Fantasy VII Final Fantasy VII Remake Final Fantasy XVI First-Person RPG First Person Shooter Halo: Infinite Halo Series JRPG Microsoft Nintendo Nintendo 64 Nintendo Switch PC PlayStation PlayStation 1 PlayStation 2 PlayStation 4 PlayStation 5 RPG SEGA Sega Saturn Sony Square Enix Tales Series The Legend of Dragoon The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time The Legend of Zelda Series XBOX Xbox 360 Xbox Game Pass Xbox One Xbox Series S Xbox Series X Xenogears

  • Legend of Dragoon
    Masayuki Kasebe: The Legend of Dragoon Could Have Saved FFVII Remake
  • Wukong cover
    Wukong Dev: No ‘Black Myth’ Version for Xbox Thanks to Difficulties on Underpowered Series S
  • Astro Bot Water Effects
    2024 Recap: Xbox Launches its Best Games, Xbox Gets out of the Race Against Sony, Astro GotY, and More!
  • Intergalactic protagonist
    Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet the Most Hated New Game Reveal? Concord 2.0?
  • Astro Bot Water Effects
    Astro Bot Review (PS5)
  • FFVII Rebirth
    Final Fantasy VII Rebirth: Welcome to the Multiverse! Review (PS5)
  • Echoes of Wisdom Raises Zelda To New Heights Through Brilliance, Grace and Elegance – My Review and Verdict
  • Legend of Zelda Fanfiction: The Plane of Masked Yearning – Part Seven
  • PS5 Pro
    PlayStation 5 Pro’s $700 Tag: A Peek at a Future Without Xbox?
  • Final Fantasy Pixel Remaster
    Final Fantasy Should be “Political”: Has Sakaguchi Been Misunderstood By News Outlets?
  • About
  • Privacy Policy
Copyright 2022 by Never Ending Realm, Mont Cessna & Samuel Rivera