How Square Enix's PlayStation Final Fantasy Failed...

An in depth breakdown why Square Enix's AAA exclusive PlayStation plan failed with Final Fantasy and what we will probably see from the company in the future with their new business plan.

0:00 Intro
0:43 Square Enix's New Business Plan
2:51 Why The AAA Exclusive PS Final Fantasy Plan Failed
9:32 Square Enix Future With Nintendo & Multiplatform
11:45 Square Enix Can't Afford to Miss the Switch 2 / Multiplat

[Boss_Fight_Index_Channel]

_When you attempt to satisfy everyone, you satisfy no one_ - Japanese Proverb

[tntbigshow]

Square/Enix needs to make the next Final Fantasy game more like, you know? A FINAL FANTASY GAME! Put it on the Switch as well, and it'll sell 8-10 million easily.

[MassiveRican]

Y’all FF & Console warriors really love to deny the fact that the series is on a downtrend

1. Selling less than 5 million copies and that’s with discounts is not a good return on investment considering how much the development cost. The fact FFVII rebirth of all games sold less than XVI is just sad.

2. PlayStation is majority COD, Dude Bro gaming at this point. RPG players have shifted over to Nintendo and PC. Another reality y’all don’t want to accept. Numbers and sales clearly back this up.

3. FF is no longer a console seller. Get over it. It’s the sad but current truth. I really like FFVII btw prob not even halfway through it at 50hrs but, first off Chadley is not it. Secondly Graphics ain’t all that matters. Games need to be fun above all.

Square Enix themselves acknowledge that players are waiting on PC ports backed up by the fact they’re expecting FFXVI Sales to fall in line with expectations once it releases on PC. Multiplat because series doesn’t sell gangbusters on PS platform anymore.

[jairekambui]

The problem is, jrpg sales and general interest has been stagnant in recent years as older gamers have less time and more gaming options, and younger gamers don’t even know these games exist because they’re too busy playing Roblox and fortnite.

[birdbig]

Let's hope the Switch 2 will be the PlayStation 2 of the PlayStation 1.

[WillyML]

After FF7 Remake, I lost all interest in Rebirth, and any other follow-ups to FF7. All I wanted was Final Fantasy 7 with better graphics. Not new characters, not an alternate timeline split, not a bait and switch for what they were showing before release. I was willing to give it's new combat a chance, but after the first Mako Reactor mission, SquarEnix made it clear they had no interest in telling the same story. I'll just stick with the original on Steam with the mods.

[falconlawnch]

It's like some higher-ups at Square-Enix were operating as if Final Fantasy still enjoyed the status it had in the mid 90s, when the mainline games had enough pull to shift the entire console industry, just like what happened with the original FF7. That has not been the case for a very long time - in fact, FF has apparently gained a reputation for being somewhat of an outdated, 'boomer' franchise among younger audiences.

[insomniaddictesp]

The whole success behind ff7 was how accessible the characters and the game was. Materia and equipment was easy to understand and swap, limit breaks were awesome, summons were strong.

The second installment of the remake has shifted too much to fan service and pretending to be dark souls combat. Played through it once, tried to replay it and just didn’t feel like finishing the game at all and that was skipping the side content.

[Shinjiduo]

Really people? Nintendo games sell more than just about any games in the console gaming industry and they are all been exclusive since the early 90's. Square's problem is that they have not identified their core audience and catered to them properly. Right now they are too "Weeb" to win over the current "Bro Gamer" contingent on PlayStation but they are also too "Western AAA" to win over more traditional "Geek Gamers" contingent on PlayStation and Nintendo. They need to stop straddling the fence and pick a side. The multiplat strategy can help but if they continue to make the East / West hybrid games that are not enough of anything for anyone they will just spend more money to court the same niche audience they already have today.

[jarde]

What happened?

Square Enix thought it was a good idea to take a shrinking franchise and make it exclusive to a single platform lol

[MetsysKra]

Exclusivity is far from the real issue. FF has lost its identity and unfortunately has forgotten who their core audience is. The games look like they would appeal to someone who loves GOW yet the system and battle mechanics are not as deep. Then on the other end of it being an rpg May turn off others who are interested. RPG fans feel isolated as well because now they don’t feel the series is appealing to them despite the fact that the RPG genre is still popular and relevant. FF16 always had the intention to reach to pc and it’s clear that FF7 is gonna be there too so idk what the big deal is. They should strive for simultaneous releases rather than this delayed effort. Switch ain’t strong for any ambitious. titles anyway so that’s that

[JeannieLove]

I always questioned how well those exclusivity deals were actually doing for them. Since they were always saying games weren't meeting their expectations.

I see this as them tempering their expectations and realize they are unrealistic for having exclusivity. Hopefully Square and Bandai-Namco really are committed to focusing on Quality and if they do, then I think they'll be more successful.

[JonBlack]

If you read the actual report instead of the article you would know that Square Enix financial problems were in large part due to their MMO and mobile projects. But let’s keep pushing the narrative that it was because Final Fantasy was PlayStation exclusive. 😁

[Cloud-dtxb]

As much as I defend from 13 onward I have reached a point where I really want them to stop the trend chasing and go back to a more traditional feeling Final Fantasy game. Either adapt the system from the 7 remake triliogy or go back to Turnbased but 16 despite being a very good game has just made me realize how much I miss when Square did'nt give a crap what other people did and just focused on their own ideas. They need to get their idenity back for this series and I hope their really thinking about that for 17.

It's not too late to fix things and get back on track so long as their willing to put in the work. Doubling down on mistakes and not owning them only guarantess you'll keep sinking as Sony and Microsoft are currently demonstrating. If even Sega can come around to admitting their screw ups and try to change things Square definetly can too.

[l_l]

0:57 …?! then why is rebirth the opposite of fun?

[alfredocoronado]

The reason Final Fantasy is failing is being exclusive to Playstation, Playstation paying exclusive rights is hurting Square Enix, Square Enix should just release the games on all platforms, this will follow on other companies that release exclusive games on one platform, Capcom, Sega, Bandai Namco, Konami, SNK, Koei Tecmo, etc

[Patrick-twnr]

Square Enix isn’t failing because of platform exclusivity with Sony and Nintendo on certain games. The reason they failed so far is because the budgets swelled to the point that those deals aren’t enough to cover the costs of those games and if there isn’t enough residuals on the back end of the deal for revenue generation after release then it is costing them money and not making them money.

Square Enix not having Rebirth on PS4 hurt their opportunity for money on a platform far greater than PS5 so they should have had the trilogy on both PS4 and PS5 and they would have at least made a profit vs a loss.

Exclusivity isn’t a bad thing if the business side is set up for growth on the back end and enough front end cost to covered by the partner invested in the franchise.

[TheIronTiger]

2 million sold on rebirth, is what I hear.

[zeekay]

I hope star ocean 2 remake did well and showed square that we don't need big budget games to be happy. They just have to be stylish and polished.

[popzeus]

By focusing on "fun" it almost sounds like S/E is trying to bring some of the Nintendo development philosophy into their process. Foamstars is an example of a game that maybe would've never gotten out of the prototype phase without a better hook than "let's just copy Splatoon".