FF16 preorders slightly below 15's. Square-Enix is slightly "panicking."

Hope this is just people not preordering cos preordering should be a sin. Also people are probably more wary cos of 4-spoken.

Source.

Final Fantasy 16 is almost guaranteed to be a hit when it launches on June 22, but right now, it might not be reaching the heights of its predecessor. This is according to a report on the behind-the-scenes at Square Enix, which says the company is "panicking" over Final Fantasy 16's pre-order figures.

According to journalist Imran Khan, Final Fantasy 16's pre-orders are "tracking behind" Final Fantasy 15's, even after adjusting for the fact that 16 is a PS5 exclusive. Khan continues to say that this has Square Enix "slightly panicking", suggesting that the game's promotional period has not gone as planned, even with the positive reception to early gameplay demos.

Khan mentions this apparent concern within Square Enix in relation to the company's recent announcement thatFinal Fantasy 7 Rebirth is still in development and aiming for its winter release window. Khan speculates that this reminder came in response to 16's apparent poor pre-order figures, suggesting that the company believes it didn't do enough to encourage fans to purchase the game early.

Japanese Ubi and their bullshit expectations.

Gamers are getting wiser to not pre-order from all the crap AAA games are getting on release dates. I wouldn't spell doom and gloom for FF16 but SE needs to understand most gamers aren't gonna start pre-ordering until they see reviews first.

The last few original final fantasy games haven't been anything special. Plus with games like Forespoken being a complete letdown, I see why people aren't pre-ordering.

I don't think what they've shown so far looked that good, maybe that's why?

I'm still going to play it on PC because I love RPGs but it hasn't been that compelling so far

Vid for people who hates reading.

The trailers look somewhat decent. But I still think it's because of Square's track record.

I haven’t preordered yet myself but I’m thinking about doing so tomorrow. Really want to get that physical deluxe edition that comes with a cloth map, steel book case, and some in game goodies.

Are pre-orders good indicators on whether a game will sell well or poorly?

Can be used as a forecast, but as a reliable way, nah. It still does track general interest, however.

I think people are shifting more toward digital. Even PS Plus Extra/Premium has grown some from where things were before with PS Now, probably reflecting greater consumer familiarity with using digital. There's no real reason to pre-order though, there's no real incentive with digital like there is with retailer, especially with games these days being so unpredictable about meeting expectations.

Plus reflecting on last year's overall industry sales being down, it was hard to gauge whether that reflected the overall lack of compelling offerings, part of the generation transition with fall-off of revenues from previous gen users, or even reflecting the mounting economic anxieties and people cutting back on their elective spending; plus, $70 games aren't super attractive. Safe to say a bit of each. Anyhow, I still expect this to sell well if it's decent. If not at launch, eventually.

It is releasing solely on one system. And Sony has done well to grow its PS5 userbase. But, there's no PC release, and it's not on PS4 hardware, so it's sales are going to simply reflect what it's going to sell on one system. It probably will help with those who prioritize and value exclusives that there won't be much else to compete with except Slider-Man 2 later in the year. Will be interesting to see how it does. Whether the huge uptick in sales this year simply weren't people only wanting to play Harry Potter. Guess we'll see.

PS5 only, digital shift, people weren't exactly happy with XV etc. If its good it'll do fine overtime

@howmakewood: I still have good faith since it's Yoshi-P's work,

Well, it is being released on one platform vs three. I am not sure what they were expecting.

same, I have the steelbook delux version coming, found it for for 90e

Well duh, its a PS5 exclusive, whereas the last game released on 3 platforms.

I hope it flops, maybe then Square will realise they need to stop selling out to Sony.

I think it's just been too generic. There is nothing too different or interesting about this game. It looks like generic fantasy tropes.

This franchise should die, or stay dormant for at least a decade.

I wont pre order but il buy day one.

I still think it will be a big success.

That desert map they showed a few months back has completely killed my hype for the game. Looks like an early ps4 game.

Sony/Square needs your help, you should pre-order some copies for them.

They got millions off sony to keep it exclusive.

I’ll buy it when it’s half off and the fix the game.

never heard of this site or journalist. Remember when people were saying psvr2 was a disaster when in reality it outsold the original?

Well FF15 was so bad that gave a sour taste in the mouth of their customers.

I for one am never ever pre-ordering a Square game. FF15 was terrible, Forespoken was terrible. FF14 is garbage. FF13 back in the day is arguably the largest flop in history.

FF7 Remake was a masterpiece so I hope FF16 is too. But their track record is too poor.

Only from Naughty Dog, Kojima Productions, Rockstar North and From Software can you safely pre-order games know its a masterpiece guaranteed.

@Mozelleple112: Yeah, never preorder from Squareshit. I only preorder Nintendo games mainly. Their games are always polished day 1.

Also since preorders are so bad, this game is gonna get discounted quick. So cancel your preorders and wait for the price cut.

@SolidGame_basic: PSVR 2 sold over 5 million?🤔

He's talking about the launch window sales.

Nowhere in his comment made such a distinction.

"Remember when people were saying psvr2 was a disaster when in reality it outsold the original?"

I mean, just gotta use your brain sometimes, my dude.

@nod_calypse: Spoiler alert, both systems failed.

Dunno about that. I mean, why they make a second one then.

1. Pre-orders are pretty silly from the consumer side unless you are getting a special edition or want it shipped to you day 1. Unfortunately this industry is pushing out more and more unpolished turds so gotta be careful with that $

2. Your game is a PS5 exclusive. I dunno how much Sony paid you but you must've thought it was worth it so cry all you want it's your fault.

3. FF7 stuff is what the people seem to really want, sorry to say.

Given that most of Yoshi P.'s and FF14's fanbase are on PC, the temporary PS5 exclusivity hurts this game.

@pclover1980: Well, they made their bullsh*t "if you want to play it, get a PS5" comment, so I hope it flops hard and SE execs get axed for making stupid such comments.

Maybe if they make a Final Fantasy game that actually remembers what Final Fantasy is they will do better. (like that will ever happen.) To be honest at this point I would not be even slightly surprised if final fantasy 17 was a sports or racing game.

Well I stepped up to the plate to help out Square-Enix. Placed my preorder for the game today.

Extremely lackluster marketing so far. I forgot it's even releasing soon

I have stopped preordering completely. I didn't even preorder TotK which was I certain would be fantastic. There's a few reasons.

1) Games generally get cheaper after a few months. This isn't true of every title, but many do.

2) I have a serious backlog.

3) I'm not sure I really trust games to come out of the gate in good shape. If it requires three weeks of patches, what is the benefit of preordering exactly? There is none. Don't do it.

Gonna get the game day one, but don't see any reason to preorder. They gonna run out of digital copies?

I bet I am not the only one who was disappointed with FF15. I think some people are waiting for reviews before preordering FF16.

We live in an age now where we have normalised Mankind devided spreadsheet preordering and have moved on to even shittier tactics.

@nirgal: I agree. For me, FF died after 10 and I liked the first part of the FF13 trilogy.

Calling out a false statement is using your brain. You got to use your brain when trying to critique others are not my dude.😎

Preorders are below FF15 because original FF games have been average at best since FF10. FF10 was the last Original FF game I truly enjoyed. Then with games like Forespoken being not good, why would people put their trust into SE when they just haven't been delivering on the AAA front.

I dont usually pre order games. This one though, after that amazing state of play...... I preorded the delux physical edition. Can't wait!!!

The business model needs to change, though, that is for certain; not just for our sake but for the industry's sake. I forgot the exact numbers but it was a significant % of total sales are pre-orders and it is why pre-order bonuses are so heavily practiced.

If the game is received poorly, and you don't pre-order, then you're less likely to purchase. If we stop pre-ordering, then the industry will be forced to step up their quality game on future releases because if their game is shoddy then we won't buy as many copies.

It's one of those things where it's pretty obvious it should work that way, but for whatever reason it doesn't work that way. Probably because gamers as a whole have poor impulse control, disposable income, and little willpower when it comes to games they want or are interested in.

Vote with your wallets, folks!

I certainly hope this is true, but you might be giving us too much credit.

They should release the demo for FF16 soon.

I honestly wouldn't be too worried; folks are increasingly skeptical about pre-ordering games, especially from Square Enix. This game will have plenty of legs and, will sell well during the holiday season.

Not to mention this bundle will probably move a few hundred thousand units: