Hiya!

Final Fantasy VII: Remake was a blockbuster of a game. It was my pick for Game of the Year in 2020 and is still one of my most favorite games of all time. According to Square Enix themselves, total sales for Remake, which should include the PlayStation 4 version, the PC version as well as the Integrade updates, has hit over 7 million as of September 2023. Those are pretty decent numbers, if you ask me.

So, why isn’t its sequel, Final Fantasy VII: Rebirth, doing as well? While Square Enix hasn’t released any official numbers yet, but it’s safe to say it’s not doing so hot. If sales numbers were through the roof, you would bet Square Enix themselves would be shouting that fact on the rooftops. The game has been underperforming in Japan, which isn’t a good sign.

It is shocking that Rebirth sales numbers aren’t as great as most people predicted. I mean, it’s the sequel to Remake, a game that, as I just said, has sold over 7 million copies, after all. A lot of industry experts have added their two cents regarding the matter. A lot of what they’ve been saying makes a whole lot of sense. Things like Remake getting released at a time when people were locked in their homes and craving for entertainment and on the PlayStation 4, which had a much bigger install base then than the PlayStation 5 has right now. Some have even suggested it’s because it’s a sequel and sequels don’t really perform as well as the original.

However, I do believe they’re ignoring a big factor as to why Rebirth isn’t performing as well as Remake. Now, I’m no industry expert but I am a “new” gamer, as in I’m someone who has only been playing games for around a decade. I’m not some grizzled industry veteran with insider knowledge on how the video game business works from the inside out. What I am is someone who does understand the mind of today’s gamer. So, this is all me speculating but hear me out because these issues might be something Square Enix might look into.

One factor is the odd fact of Final Fantasy VII: Rebirth isn’t just a sequel to Remake but a sequel to the original Final Fantasy VII. There are many reasons why the original Final Fantasy VII touched so many people’s lives. It gave us so many memorable characters like Cloud Strife, Sephiroth and Tifa Lockhart. The mixture of its polygonal character models and painted backgrounds was a breakthrough then. The music was catchy and still breathtaking today. Yes, Final Fantasy VII deserves its great legacy.

However, here’s the thing: I don’t think a lot of modern gamers have played the original Final Fantasy VII. Oh, they’re familiar with the big twist and turns in the story. They’re familiar with most of the heroes but don’t really have any love for the supporting cast. They probably cannot stomach the idea of playing a game with such low-polygon models and having to wait for their turn just to do something during the Active Time Battle combat sequences.

So, let’s go through a thought experiment. Let’s say you’re a modern gamer who decided to play Final Fantasy VII: Remake because it’s an upgraded version of one of the most memorable video games ever made. You love Cloud Strife’s aloofness and Tifa Lockhart’s “personality” and all that. You love the music and you love how you can keep on pressing the Square button on your PlayStation 4 controller to attack.

You’re loving the story but it is a little confusing with the ghost thingies and why the heck some anthropomorphic cat is slamming their fist on the ground in frustration in that one scene. You then get to the final scene where Sephiroth rips a hole in the time continuum. The party steps through and you get a cutscene with Cloud Strife seemingly entering Midgar. However, it’s actually not Cloud Strife. It’s some guy with black spikey hair! Who the heck is this idiot?

Of course, longtime gamers who have played the original Final Fantasy VII and Crisis Core will immediately recognize this Cloud Strife doppelganger to be Zack Fair. They’re immediately recognize the scene to be the ending sequence of Crisis Code and they’ll be super elated to see their boy in Remake, however brief it may be.

However, we’re not focused on the longtime fans. We’re focused on the gamer who thought they were playing Remake because it was a remake of the original Final Fantasy VII. So, they jump online to get an explanation on who Zack Fair is and they find out the big secret of Cloud Strife and his history with the SOLDIER. They dig deeper and it hits them: they are missing out on more than just references to the original Final Fantasy VII. They’re missing out on the actual plot of Remake!

So, they debate with themselves if they should play the original Final Fantasy VII so they can get the full picture. They look at some gameplay videos of the original game. They watch this chibi version of Cloud run through low-resolution maps and scrolling through menus to attack an enemy. No thanks! That looks way boring! Now, I have played through the original and I can’t help but think how great it would have been if Square Enix actually did a more accurate remake of Final Fantasy VII. I also have to admit I struggled greatly with the graphics and the battle system as, since I am a more modern gamer, I’m not used to the less action-y kind of combat of today’s games. I do have a feeling a lot of modern gamers feel the same way so they’re not inclined to trudge through the original Final Fantasy VII.

So what happens? Well, the modern gamer, as much as they enjoyed Remake, is going to be less inclined to get Rebirth. Why would they when they’re going to simply be lost in the overall plot? I mean, for the longtime gamer who played the original, they will love to see Vincent, Cid and even the lesser known characters like Cissnei from Crisis Core. They’ll love what Square Enix have done to modernize locations like Junon Harbor and the Temple of the Ancients. I mean, they went all nostalgia crazy with the trailers! What more with the actual game?

Sure, the modern gamer will love how Final Fantasy VII fans are getting more of what they love but what’s in it for them? They have no real love for Vincent, Cid, Junon Harbor and the Temple of the Ancients. They can try to play through it and they will probably love it all the same. However, the idea of them missing something will always be in the back of their mind. They won’t get the maximum enjoyment from it so why rush out to buy it?

In the future, I do believe more people will play Rebirth when the 3rd and last installment is about to be released. That’s because, by that time, Rebirth will probably be discounted, ported over to PC and made available on the PlayStation Plus service. The modern gamer isn’t that hot and bothered to get Rebirth as soon as possible like fans of the original are. So, while the sales numbers aren’t that good, I do think they will get better but it’s going to be a marathon and not a sprint.

Byee!

What other reasons do you think as to why Final Fantasy VII: Rebirth’s sales numbers aren’t too good? Let me know in the comments section below!