Final Fantasy VII Rebirth Is Reportedly Underperforming, Selling Half of Remake

The highly anticipated game Final Fantasy VII Rebirth, the second installment in the ambitious Final Fantasy VII Remake trilogy, received widespread critical acclaim when it launched in late February.

The game earned a perfect score in Wccftech's review penned by Kai Tatsumoto:

Related Story Final Fantasy VII Rebirth Director Hopes Series Will Continue After Remake Project

If there’s one word to describe Final Fantasy VII Rebirth, it would be ambitious. Tetsuya Nomura, Kazushige Nojima, and the rest of Creative Business Unit I at Square-Enix have turned what is merely the remainder of Final Fantasy VII’s Disc One upon leaving Midgar into a 100-hour-long epic. Moments of distracted exploration throughout the massive wide-open environments are often bookended with more linear story segments that balance comedy and somber moments. Players will feel more intimately engrossed with the story of those chosen by the planet and routinely have their fond memories of playing the original tickled with delight. Final Fantasy VII Rebirth is an absolute must-play for fans of the series.

The Metascore (the average of reviews aggregated on Metacritic, which includes ours) is 92, three points higher than the predecessor. And yet, according to Daniel Ahmad, Director of Research & Insights at Niko Partners, the game is severely underperforming in sales compared to Final Fantasy VII Remake. Here's what the analyst wrote on Twitter:

Not to be that guy, but Final Fantasy VII Rebirth is underperforming sales wise. It’s selling about half of what Remake sold in the same timeframe and looks like it’ll have a weaker tail (prior to any PS+ like release).

Ahmad cited equities research reports that get the data from 'usual trackers'. Publicly, we know that the game ranked fifth on UK's March 2024 chart (topped by Helldivers 2).

There's a few obvious reasons for this puzzling sales performance. First and foremost, the Final Fantasy VII Remake launched in April 2020, right in the middle of the