The new Nomura?

[ReynTime]

I mean first of all Nomura also co-created The World Ends With You, which is a good series.
Second of all, neither him nor Yoshida are as hands-on with the games they produce as people think. Yoshida has to approve everything, but the people designing the features and games are the ones who come up with stuff. He's also the main PR, which is a big part of the producer role. Just like Eiji Aonuma will be front and center in PR even though credits to how the latest Zeldas came out is credited to the director Hidemaro Fujibayashi and his team. But being the PR doesn't mean you created the games.

XVI is not multiplatform, and the PS5 is the worst-selling PlayStation console in Japan, even disregarding the 2+ year period where seemingly no one could buy one. Comparing it to a Nintendo game in a country that only buys Nintendo consoles now is amusing.

Excuses. PS5 obviously doesn't have PS4 or combined PS4-PC-Xbox numbers, but neither did PS1, 2 or 3 when their first final fantasy games came out and still sold as well or better than the company expected.

Final Fantasy VII, VIII, X, XII and even the oh-so-hated XIII sold systems. Final Fantasy XVI failing to do that is still attesting to how the brand fell from grace.

And before you go "but muh economy crisis/muh lower buying power", even PS5's current price in the current economy doesn't hold a candle to how overpriced PS3 was.

[Tanis_Ebonhart]

I mean first of all Nomura also co-created The World Ends With You, which is a good series.
Second of all, neither him nor Yoshida are as hands-on with the games they produce as people think. Yoshida has to approve everything, but the people designing the features and games are the ones who come up with stuff. He's also the main PR, which is a big part of the producer role. Just like Eiji Aonuma will be front and center in PR even though credits to how the latest Zeldas came out is credited to the director Hidemaro Fujibayashi and his team. But being the PR doesn't mean you created the games.



Excuses. PS5 obviously doesn't have PS4 or combined PS4-PC-Xbox numbers, but neither did PS1, 2 or 3 when their first final fantasy games came out and still sold as well or better than the company expected.

Final Fantasy VII, VIII, X, XII and even the oh-so-hated XIII sold systems. Final Fantasy XVI failing to do that is still attesting to how the brand fell from grace.

And before you go "but muh economy crisis/muh lower buying power", even PS5's current price in the current economy doesn't hold a candle to how overpriced PS3 was.

I mean... Most people are waiting for a PS5 sale. Like, I won't be getting one until winter time as that's when the sales and bundles hit.

[Tsumdere]

Not that I have a horse in this race because I consider BG3 to be one of the best games of all time and I still haven't played FFXVI because of console exclusive... but there is a lot of people ignoring obvious things.


1. Console exclusive. This objectively makes less sales than just a full release. Full stop. You're an idiot if you think otherwise.
Xbox and PC are massive portions of the market (with some saying PC is the biggest share). PC in particular is growing bigger each year due to lower entry costs and sheer amount of flexibility, so unless you can account for how many people just stopped buying consoles completely because they now have a gaming computer (like me) and then compare Playstation sales with games from 8 years ago it's pointless to do so.

Final Fantasy VII, VIII, X, XII and even the oh-so-hated XIII sold systems. Final Fantasy XVI failing to do that is still attesting to how the brand fell from grace.

Absolutely. This is also part of the above problem and isn't indicative of XVI's individual quality. Square Enix as a whole has a bad reputation now so of course people aren't going to leap out of their seats to buy a Playstation 5 just for FFXVI after how XIII and XV were received.

2. FFXVI was released smack in the middle of a lot of highly anticipated games like Resident Evil 4, Tears of the Kingdom, Diablo 4, and Baldur's Gate 3. It's not super common to buy every single $60+ game that comes out, and those who do buy multiples still have to make choices.

3. Metacritic ratings are worthless. Multiple super beloved games like Nier and Silent Hill 2 are below 90. Bioshock 3 is rated above Bioshock. Multiple Madden and NFL games above Hades.

4. Just because another game does better doesn't make the "worse" game bad. Hades is better than Okami (imo) and Okami sold poorly, but Okami is not even CLOSE to being bad.

Combine Squeenix's low and deserved reputation following years of flops + console exclusivity + multiple great AAA games released within 3 - 4 months of each other its no wonder that sales are "low". But compared to other Squeenix games that have come out recently, the sales are great.
When CBU3 makes a game as soulless as KH3 then we can talk.

But even without playing FFXVI I can tell Baldur's Gate 3 is better. I would like more RPGs to take note of how much people like RPGs and turn-based. IG Persona wasn't enough to prove that.
I would kill for another turn-based FF that plays more like Baldur's Gate. Including the romance.
I will still probably enjoy FFXVI though. It looks decent and even my non-FFXIV friends loved it.

[CaptainLagbeard]

Final Fantasy VII, VIII, X, XII and even the oh-so-hated XIII sold systems. Final Fantasy XVI failing to do that is still attesting to how the brand fell from grace.

And before you go "but muh economy crisis/muh lower buying power", even PS5's current price in the current economy doesn't hold a candle to how overpriced PS3 was.

The thing is though, in addition to being mildly overpriced there's very little reason to actually get a PS5 at the moment. There's FF XVI, but aside from that what else is there? Being able to play FF14 better on a console? Sure games can sell systems, but I hardly think a single game is going to sell a console by itself. People didn't buy a PS3 to only play FF XIII, or a PS4 to only play FF XV. And people aren't going to buy a PS5 to only play FF XVI, they'll need a few more reasons to buy the system.

[Cach]

Console exclusive. This objectively makes less sales than just a full release. Full stop.

Sony's first party titles would like a word. FF even had the whole "console warrior" aspect going for it but didn't seem to move people enough.

People didn't buy a PS3 to only play FF XIII, or a PS4 to only play FF XV. And people aren't going to buy a PS5 to only play FF XVI

I did buy a PS1 mostly for FF7 tho. The FF brand doesn't carry that weight anymore sadly.

As for main subject of the thread, with so many criticisms I can level at Nomura, at least I can tell from a mile away he's involved in something.
Can't say the same for Yoshi, beyond "tell Soken to go wild". He seems more of a project management kind of guy rather than a creative with a distinct signature.