Final Fantasy 7’s remake was one of those games no one really asked for. Nor did anyone want a complete reimagining of the source material with a nice helping of modern standards to further water down the product. Yet the industry is desperate to convince people this game has performed exceedingly well when in reality, it hasn’t.
Thus far the game has shipped, not sold, but shipped 3.5 million units worldwide. During a time when most of western civilization is experiencing lockdowns, journalists want you to believe people were able to buy copies even if they wanted them. Yet you don’t need conjecture to highlight sales have fallen flat after the remake nearly dropped of UK’s Sales chart in only it’s second week.
Only a complete lack of competition saved Final Fantasy 7’s remake from suffering the same fate as Resident Evil 3 Remake. Sitting at 8th on the list it was surpassed by Grand Theft Auto 5, Ring Fit Adventure, Mario Kart 8, Call of Duty Modern Warfare, Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order along with Animal Crossing and Fifa 2020. Being outperformed by titles that have been out for years is very indicative of slow sales performance in its second week.
Now Square Enix has decided they want the original fandom back and have changed their DLC plans going forward. According to the latest issue of Ultimania as Translated by Twitter User aitaikimochi Executive Producer Yoshinori Kitase and Direct Tetsuya Nomura detailed how plans had changed. No longer is the game going to have three parts. Future parts will be shorter while sticking true to the original game’s narration going forward.
Nomura: (How about the next part?) Depends on how many parts the overall story will be. If we divide the story into large parts, it’ll take longer to make. If we divide it into more detailed smaller sections, then developing it will be faster. I hope to release the next one ASAP.
— ☆オードリーAudrey☆ (@aitaikimochi) April 28, 2020
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Twitter word limits are dumb, but I want to add that Kitase says “From here on out,” so this quote refers to what they have planned for the story AFTER this first installment.
— ☆オードリーAudrey☆ (@aitaikimochi) April 28, 2020
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Kitase: (How many parts?) We have a general idea of how the story will play out, but we haven’t decided exactly [how many parts], nor can we confirm anything. There’s speculation that it will be 3 parts, but we’re just doing things one step at a time.
Nomura: (How about the next part?) Depends on how many parts the overall story will be. If we divide the story into large parts, it’ll take longer to make. If we divide it into more detailed smaller sections, then developing it will be faster. I hope to release the next one ASAP.
Quote by Kitase on how different the #FF7R will be from the original story:
“We’re not drastically changing the story and making it into something completely different than the original. Even though it’s a Remake, please assume the story of FF7 will continue as FF7 always has.”
Twitter word limits are dumb, but I want to add that Kitase says “From here on out,” so this quote refers to what they have planned for the story AFTER this first installment.
Those that purchased this remake should start feeling concerned right about now. Square Enix envisioned Final Fantasy 7 Remake to be a cash generator for them for a few years. During whatever projected period they had on their internal statements they would be able to release periodic expansions at lower development cost and simply generate money at a lower investment cost.
That isn’t happening. The initial install base is smaller than the company had projected. As evident by their diminishing the scope of future expansions and returning to form when it is too late. If said expansions don’t have a high sell-through rate to the established base there is a good chance Square will just abandon the game. Just as they abandoned future DLC plans for Final Fantasy 15 following the departure of Hajime Tabata.
Alternatively, Square could be stuck in a contractual obligation to wrap up the narration at their expense. An issue that wouldn’t have happened if Square hadn’t decided it wanted a newer audience for an episodic game they assumed would have every classic fan they flipped the bird to return to buy.
