FF7 Rebirth Might Have Almost Doomed Future Final Fantasy Remakes

Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth has generally been a big success among the Final Fantasy community, but its impact on the future of the franchise might be a little more complicated. There’s no stopping the FF7 Remake trilogy train now, and the third game in the franchise can certainly be expected in a few more years. When it comes to other remake prospects in the series, however, a big change in how Square Enix is releasing the games seems like it may be the only hope of keeping things going.

The FF7 Remake project has been a huge one from the start, although Square Enix wasn’t initially certain whether to develop it as two or three games. Although the original FF7 managed everything in one 30-something-hour run, translating the huge world of Gaia to something resembling modern open-world game design significantly balloons things. There’s certainly plenty of filler in the new versions, but there’s also a staggering amount of bespoke content that makes the intense demands of development obvious.

Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth’s Sales Haven’t Been Huge

FF7 Rebirth Isn’t The Smash Success That Remake Was

The exact sales numbers for FF7 Rebirth haven’t been made clear, but one thing that has is that they aren’t as exciting as Square Enix was hoping. As reported by Bloomberg, Square Enix president Takashi Kiryu told analysts that FF7 Rebirth is among several titles that have recently fallen short of expectations, along with Final Fantasy 16 and Foamstars. Considering how much hype the game generated before launch and the accolades it’s received since release, framing it as a disappointment might seem like a surprise, but all the positive reception in the world doesn’t always directly translate to sales.

It’s a turn from FF7 Remake‘s release, as Square Enix reported strong performance that brought the first title in the trilogy to 5 million copies sold worldwide several months after its initial release. This wasn’t record-breaking for the franchise – Final Fantasy 15 managed a nearly miraculous 5 million shipped copies and sales in one day upon its 2016 release – but it’s the kind of market showing that confirms the viability of the remake project. Whatever Rebirth‘s exact sales numbers are, they can be assumed to be significantly lower than Remake‘s would have been at the same similar distance from launch.

Platform Exclusivity Might Be Hurting FF7 Rebirth Sales

Square Enix Is Planning To Shift To A Multi-Platform Focus

There are a lot of possible reasons why FF7 Rebirth‘s sales haven’t truly taken off, but the most obvious culprit is platform exclusivity. FF15‘s excellent performance happened across both PS4 and Xbox One, offering a strong JRPG choice to Xbox players who often have fewer options in the genre.

FF7 Remake was only available on the PS4 at launch, but by that point in the PS4’s lifetime, the system had sold around 100 million units. The PS5 crossed 50 million by the end of 2023, as confirmed by Sony and reported by VGC, so even factoring in early 2024 sales doesn’t bring it to a comparable user base yet.

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Square Enix seems to have pinpointed exclusivity as a major issue in sales performance, and the company is clearly taking steps to address it. As reported by Polygon, the company’s financial report indicates a move toward multi-platform releases “in regards to major franchises and AAA titles including catalog titles,” a categorization that certainly seems like it would apply to Final Fantasy games. Although the series spent most of its history as games that could first be found only on Nintendo systems and later on PlayStation, that strategy’s time may be up.

It’s good that Square Enix is course-correcting, but just how FF7 Rebirth‘s sales disappointment might affect future games remains to be seen. It shouldn’t be any more responsible for how Square Enix treats Final Fantasy as a whole than FF16‘s underperformance is, but it does show that remaking the classics may not be the ticket to a guaranteed massive audience. If FF7 Remake Part 3 goes multi-platform and sells better, all may be well, but the viability of the endeavor is a bit up in the air at the moment.

What The Future Of Final Fantasy Remakes Could Hold

It’s Too Soon To Say If More Games Will Get Remade

FF7 isn’t the only Final Fantasy game that could attract some attention with a remake. Although no others might be likely to get a whole trilogy project, fan favorites like Final Fantasy 9 still seem like reasonable candidates for a modern rendition. If the enormous cultural cachet of FF7 can’t carry it to soaring success across the course of a trilogy, however, investing in remakes of other games is unlikely to be viable.

There are definitely other factors at play as to why FF7 Rebirth‘s sales are lower than FF7 Remake‘s, from the smaller audience for a middle chapter to a market that’s struggling in general to hit the heights that it was a few years ago. It’s also important to stress that it still seems to have sold a ton of copies, even if Square Enix would like to see higher numbers. At the end of the day, however, the bottom line is the bottom line, and going multi-platform might be the only chance for future remakes.

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Whether remakes of Final Fantasy classics are ultimately necessary is another question, and perhaps an even more complicated one. FF9 still looks absolutely gorgeous on original hardware and a CRT, and it’s not the only game to retain some timeless appeal. The ports that Square Enix releases on modern platforms can never quite effectively translate the low-resolution graphics to modern displays, however, and FF9 is also an example of a game with more sluggish combat than FF7 ever had.

Regardless, there are certainly plenty of fans who would like to see other classic Final Fantasy titles come to new life. Despite some missteps, FF7 Rebirth shows how much that approach has to offer, from grand emotional cutscenes to dynamic action combat. It’s a shame that Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth could also be a black mark against more Final Fantasy remakes in the future, but bringing the series to more platforms might be the key to keeping the idea alive.

Sources: Bloomberg, Square Enix, VGC, Polygon

Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth

Franchise

Final Fantasy 7

Released

February 29, 2024

Developer(s)

Square Enix Business Division 1

Genre(s)

Action RPG , Adventure

Engine

Unreal Engine 4

ESRB

T

Summary

Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth is the sequel to Final Fantasy 7 Remake and will see Cloud and his friends set off beyond the walls of Midgar to explore the world, stop Sephiroth’s machinations, and see the world outside their slum prison. Now that the whispers of fate no longer guide the characters along the pre-destined path set in the original PlayStation classic Final Fantasy 7, the future is for the heroes (and villains) to shape. The game will still visit prominent locales and revisit crucial story points, but it will be a more significant departure from the first game from the source material. Players will engage in real-time action RPG combat where they can execute powerful combos, cast spells, and swap between characters for different fighting styles as they journey the land of Gaia.

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