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The story
The Switch 2 version of ‘Rebirth,’ the second chapter in the FFVII Remake trilogy, has been discounted by up to 85% less than six months after release — and it’s become a hot topic on 5ch. In the thread, opinions clashed: some said ‘not that surprising, since the PS5 version had already been discounted before,’ others speculated that poor sales on the platforms it launched on first might be behind the fire sale, while still others questioned the whole trilogy format, and some voiced the frustration of having bought it at full price. There are also concerns about what this might mean for sales of the next installment, ‘Revelation.’
What people said
It's not about being too poor to buy it.
It's about this series normalizing a price point where even broke people CAN buy it.
Then don't dump it on Switch 2 too.
This is just one more example of Square Enix's consistently baffling business decisions.
They pulled the same stunt with Dragon Quest XI — as the used PS version's price kept dropping, they went and slashed the price of the Switch version too, even though it was still selling fine at full price. It makes zero sense as a business call.
Everyone already knows FF is that kind of series, so they probably don't feel much of anything?
They're probably annoyed, but honestly, anyone who buys at full price is a company fanboy to begin with.
That's because it's a classic case of a title that was never going to have long-tail sales.
Even years later, you'll find brand-new copies sitting in the one-coin bargain bin and the stock never goes down.
Meanwhile, Capcom's games get tens of millions of people buying them every year because people think 'it's cheap, might as well try it / complete the set.'
Even so, I think they're still turning a profit. Simple math says it's triple the revenue from one single project/idea — and since it's a remake, there are parts of the production process they can skip.
I get the feeling the only people still buying Square Enix games these days are the ones who don't get that lol
I think people understand there's an element of 'full price is just the entry fee to join the festival while it's still hot' — that's why so many buy it at launch and it ends up ranking among the top sellers in Japan.
And once that moment's passed, of course it's worthless even in the bargain bin — that's just how it goes.
For some reason Tifa keeps getting given Eve's face
Either way, these are some pitiable people…
I don't get the 'pitiable' sentiment.
Why would you think that's pitiable?
Why'd you even write the second line
It's a trilogy.
It's not all finished yet.
The last part comes out next year.
Total development time: 7 years.
Finish the whole thing before you sell it.
This is exactly why the brand's reputation is in the gutter.
Even the Dragon Quest track record won't save this one.
They're just cutting the price — that doesn't mean it's actually selling.
Forget the initial sales — it's not putting up numbers even after releasing on Xbox, PC, and Switch 2…
How far did the cumulative sales crash since part 1…
If people just think 'ugh, a trilogy is such a hassle,' then it's not even a pricing issue anymore. And if it's nostalgia you're after, there's also the argument that you might as well just buy the original.
If it were free I'd obviously want it, but even then I'd probably just let it pile up in my backlog unplayed… which means, in the end, I'm never going to touch part 3 either…
Background and Key Points of This Debate
‘FF7 Rebirth’ carries on the structure of the original 1997 release, which shipped on three discs, by splitting the remake into a trilogy as well. The final installment, ‘Revelation,’ is slated for release next year, bringing the series’ total development time to seven years. Opinions in the thread split between those who read this price cut as ‘proof that the PS5 version, which launched first, underperformed,’ and those who saw it as ‘simply following the drop in the PS5 version’s used-game market price, now applied to the other platform versions.’ Commenters also pointed to Square Enix doing the same thing before with Dragon Quest XI. What readers can easily get wrong is treating a price cut as automatic proof of poor sales — the backdrop to this whole controversy also includes criticism of the trilogy format itself, and retailers’ wariness about a price collapse before the series is even finished.
※This article is excerpted and summarized from the 5ch (Hardware/Industry (Geha)) thread ‘Switch 2 FF Remake Rebirth Gets Dumped at 85% Off After Just Half a Year ← Isn’t This Actually an Achievement? lol‘.
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