AnimeGamer183 wrote: Are you saying you think the 10 million number is realistic for FF15? Cause my entire argument is that its not, not the fact that they are making any kind of goal at all which is what it seems like you think I mean. 3-5 million, maybe even 6 or 7 life time might be feesable, but 10 just seems a bit too high for me.
3-5 Million? So you don't think it will sell more then the amount of people currently signed up to XIV? That would make it the worst selling main entry in the series since it became big outside of Japan when you exclude the sequels.
VII - 10M (Plus 100,000 on PSN and 1M on PC)
VIII - 8M (Plus 500,000 on PC)
IX - 5.5M
X - 8M (Plus 2M on PS3/PS4)
XII - 5M
XIII - 6.5M (Plus 550,000 on PC)
Heck I'd say the reason IX didn't sell as well was because it came out after the PS2 and XII came out about a week before the PS3.
Now judging that FFXV could do similar numbers or better (assuming FFXV gets released on other platforms later down the line, which its almost certain to be on PC at some point in the future) we still have a 1-3 million potential gap assuming it even reaches the sales of XIII or surpasses them. I question where the rest of these copies come from, unless the game ends up being absolutely great and adored like no other FF since maybe XII or X?
I would assume marketing. The majority of people who buy games don't read reviews and just pick up a game in a shop if they think the ad on TV looks cool. Most people picked up VII as it had a marketing budget of $100 million behind it so it was in everyone's faces. Square market games a lot more now compared to when XIII came out and this looks like it will be their biggest market push since VII.
Also more people own PS4's and Xbox One's then they did 360/PS3's so there is a bigger market. There is obviously some excitement for the game as it's 6 months from release and 1 million people have watched the first episode of the anime in 4 days and the trailer from 4 days ago has 1 million views already.
Now I want to talk about the potential marketing and demographics of Final Fantasy XV. There are aspects that I think could make this game sell better in the west, Square has chosen to take a more Western development cycle with huge open world to traverse in the vein of western series like The Witcher and Elder Scrolls series, i'll even throw in a comparison to Xenoblade Chronicles X because FF15 takes a few things from that game as well. What I am unsure about is whether or not this Western Development approach could counter act the japanese inspired aspects of this game, I mean it is still Final Fantasy and its definitely still a JRPG, its kind of like japanese story characters and world thrown onto the blue prints of a Western developed game no? And this entire aspect is what makes me not sure how the game will actually perform, too western for the japanese game loving fans, and perhaps to japanese for the western game loving fans? It almost seems like there is a slight conflict of interest, and there is a whole other argument with square about developing for a "world market", what they tried to do with games like Last Remnant a while back etc.
Most people will see a 30 second ad on TV of a bunch of guys hanging out in a car while Stand By Me plays as they fight giant monsters and the name Final Fantasy. The general public won't give a fuck about anything you said.
I dont hate Square, but I do think they are forgetting they need to regain fan trust and establish new fans with FFXV which it seems like they can at least have some success in one of those categories
Many people hated VIII and then came back for IX, many hated X and came back for XII. Gamers are a fickle bunch and most who disliked XIII and bitch about XV will most likely buy it still. Just look for the photos of the Steam groups saying they will boycott Left 4 Dead 2 and CoD which shows all the members playing those games. Yet the majority of people who buy games aren't sitting back and waiting for Square to prove something to them. They're people who will walk into Gamestop or Walmart and see the game on the shelf and remember the cool ad they see on TV.
but stating 10 million publicly was probably not a wise choice and a bit to grandiose a number if you consider all these factors.
Why not? Thanks to everyone reporting on this quote their game was on the front page of every gaming news site, free advertising.
If they don't hit the number who gives a fuck? As they said it's just a team goal and they most likely will have a separate one that they want to reach internally as a business which the marketing department will decide on and budget accordingly.
The only people who will give a fuck if it doesn't reach 10 million is someone like yourself who will most likely just make sarcastic comments about it like your first post on the subject.