Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth sold “about half” what Final Fantasy 7 Remake managed in the same period and is currently “underperforming.”
This news comes from industry analyst Daniel Ahmad, director of research and insights at Niko Partners, a company specializing in video game sales data analysis and reporting.
And maybe not him, but Rivers is underperforming in terms of sales. (Not that what he said has anything to do with sales performance lol)
— Daniel Ahmad (@ZhugeEX) April 11, 2024
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In X’s thread, Ahmad said, “Not him, but Rebirth is underperforming in terms of sales.” Asked if he could provide more details, Ahmad said, “We’re selling about half of what Remake sold in the same period.”
When finally asked for the source, Ahmad responded that the data came from “stock research reports that get data from common trackers.”
Interestingly, Ahmad’s insight was echoed by a strange user who went by the name VulcanJoker, who jokingly tweeted about how Rebirth achieved historic sales not because of great gameplay or story, but because it had lots of scantily clad women. It came up during the conversation.
I’m just maintaining the obvious position. Gamers’ target audience is nerdy male virgins. Do you want to sell to them? It’s good to meet the demand.
Come on, do you think FF7 – Rebirth had historic sales with a good story? Great gameplay? Ugh… no… pic.twitter.com/HMtD0Lej8K
— 🔥John Lee🔥 (@VulcanJoker) April 11, 2024
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As people have pointed out, there are a lot of reasons why the second game didn’t do as well as the first. Here are some examples:
- The remake received a lot of hype before its release because it was a major remake of an important game.
- The remake benefited from releasing during the pandemic, when people were buying far more games.
- The remake was released before the current cost-of-living crisis, when people had a bit more spending power.
- Remake was released on PS4, which had a much larger audience, and Rebirth was released on PS5.
- Sequels usually don’t sell well. Many people may have bought the remake due to the hype and may not have enjoyed it enough to buy a sequel at the time of release.
- The slightly confusing naming may have had an impact.
By the numbers, we know that Final Fantasy 7 Remake sold about 3.5 million copies in its first three days, 5 million copies over the next four months, and went on to sell 7 million copies last year.
In the case of Rivers, it is currently estimated to be about 2m. Square Enix has not provided any official confirmation. They have expectations so high that they’re often considered ridiculous, so the lack of mention of Rebirth’s success probably means they’re not entirely satisfied with it.