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Imran Khan "Square Enix is panicking slightly over Final Fantasy XVI preorder numbers, which are tracking behind FFXV"

N1tr0sOx1d3

Given another chance
Well maybe…just maybe if people weren’t consistently burnt all the time by pre-orders people would have more faith.
I find this encouraging. People taking cautions and waiting on reviews or live streams before ordering.
Once publishers start delivering on quality and value consistently then they can expect people to start trusting their products once more.
 
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Esppiral

Member
I always found dumb to preorder a game honestly I don't see the point, it is not like there are limited units or something... that being said I hope it flops because I am tired of SE not dubbing the games in to my language, witch is the second most spoken language in the world, fuck you square.
 

HawarMiran

Banned
I rarely by games on release and almost never pre-order. I pre-ordered this. Good indicator that this game will sell like hot cakes :lollipop_horns:
 

LakeOf9

Member
Well maybe…just maybe if people weren’t consistently burnt all the time by pre-orders people would have more faith.
I find this encouraging. People taking cautions and waiting on reviews or live streams before ordering.
Once publishers start delivering on quality and value consistently then they can expect people to start trusting their products once more.
This is a really funny thing to say coming off of TOTK, Diablo 4, and SF6 in the span of like three weeks.

Those are all great games that justified the preorders and will get great success. They had the right marketing, confidence from customers, and hype to sell well.

Square Enix is mishandling FF, that’s why it’s doing badly. Not because of some broad industry wide boycott of preorders by customers lol
 

Fabieter

Member
Talking about console exclusives coming to PC later. Isn’t that a tiny market and a lot of the sales are from people double dipping?

It is but in the past a port wasnt a sure thing for most of this games. Pc players can just wait knowing they will play it in 1 to 2 years.
 

Kenpachii

Member
FF15 was a mess, zelda has all the attention atm, also exclusive i think not sure about that. Honestly not surprised.
 

Abriael_GN

RSI Employee of the Year
The PC market isn't a tiny market at all. Companies like Capcom are *very* successful at exploiting it.

It would be a big market for Square Enix as well if Square Enix exploited it better. Releasing games years later when the hype cycle has already passed and marketing is naturally much, much more limited is absolutely not conducive to big sales. The PC market gets tons of games all the time, so PC gamers aren't waiting with bated breath for your former timed exclusive to finally come around.

Unless FFXVI is absolutely exceptional from every point of view, and I mean 95 Metacritic exceptional, In a year from now people will be hyped for something else, so the majority of the money will go to something else. This is really marketing 101.
 
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Nemesisuuu

Member
Well, to be honest it does look average at best. Hopefully I'm wrong, but not impressed with what we've seen so far.
 

reksveks

Member
Having two marketing cycles isn't easy or efficient, the money that you are getting for timed exclusives maybe cover the additional marketing that you need and the loss in pc revenue but I am unsure.
 

Abriael_GN

RSI Employee of the Year
Having two marketing cycles isn't easy or efficient, the money that you are getting for timed exclusives maybe cover the additional marketing that you need and the loss in pc revenue but I am unsure.

It's even worse, because they don't really have two full marketing cycles. They have one and a bit. The marketing for the second release is never even close to big enough to pull people's attention back to an old game.

People who have waited a year, won't lose all that much waiting 6 months longer for a 50% off sale, if they even care at that point.
 
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Chukhopops

Member
What an absolutely despicable thing to say. 🤔
Happy Adam Scott GIF by Sky

I mean it. Then there’s a small chance they would correct course for next iterations.
 

Bo_Hazem

Banned
As the getting financially fucked, people are not too eager to preorder as they used to be (me too). Now I only preorder games that are a 100% day one.
 

rofif

Can’t Git Gud
Lack of confidence in Square over all? NFT? Forespoken? a few turds in the last few years, the current state of AAA development? I have faith in Yoshi-P and his team. So, this is pre-ordered, but the bare minimum required. I hate giving EB more than I have too. I would hope it does better then 15, that game wasn't great to me at all.
You are a turd. Forspoken is great.
😠
 
Isn’t this a small Japanese store chain? Also it more likely lower. I assume there more digital pre orders then anything now.
 

reksveks

Member
Dumb question but do people (and personally) dislike turn-based more or less than QTE events?
 
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Abriael_GN

RSI Employee of the Year
Dumb question but do people (and personally) dislike turn-based more or less than QTE events?

Personally, I don't care about a game mechanic. I don't have any special preference. Final Fantasy games have always been about great stories, character progression, and the feelings they generate. Whatever mechanic they use as a tool to achieve that narration is absolutely irrelevant. It's just a tool.

But it's worth mentioning that the QTEs in FXVI are not your usual QTEs. They're just very forgiving presses of the button that would initiate the action displayed anyway, to add a bit of interactivity to combat transitions. You could pretty literally not watch the prompt and still nail them easily. They're actually pretty clever (albeit probably unnecessary).
 
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I’ve bought every mainline game at launch since FFVIII but I’m not feeling this one. Too much focus on the Eikon fights for me. Outside of FFX’s interpretation of them, they are low down on my list of FF features I enjoy.
 

Abriael_GN

RSI Employee of the Year
I’ve bought every mainline game at launch since FFVIII but I’m not feeling this one. Too much focus on the Eikon fights for me. Outside of FFX’s interpretation of them, they are low down on my list of FF features I enjoy.
If the first 5 hours of gameplay are an indication, they're less than 5% of gameplay at best.
 

Rykan

Member
Turn based combat is antiquated garbage.
It only existed because of hardware limitations at the time and in your imagination, you were fighting epic battles like in 16 as a kid.
Eh no? Do you think Action RPGs are a new phenomenon?

RPGs were turn based because video game RPGs are based on Pen & Paper RPGs like Dungeon & Dragons.
 
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Filben

Member
Square Enix always seem to have unrealistic and astronomical high expectations. Even if you were to sell 100 Million copies, SE would be like "meh, could have been better".
 

reksveks

Member
Personally, I don't care about a game mechanic. I don't have any special preference. Final Fantasy games have always been about great stories, character progression, and the feelings they generate. Whatever mechanic they use as a tool to achieve that narration is absolutely irrelevant. It's just a tool.
I kinda agree. My personal let down of the recent ff games that I have played is due to the story and pacing mainly. Have only really enjoyed ff7r main story (yes, I know but I like anything that fucks with a fanbase). Have been generally okay with the rest of the games in terms of gameplay and mechanics but I do need the game to not bore me in between the stuff that I enjoy.

But it's worth mentioning that the QTEs in FXVI are not your usual QTEs. They're just very forgiving presses of the button that would initiate the action displayed anyway, to add a bit of interactivity to combat transitions. You could pretty literally not watch the prompt and still nail them easily. They're actually pretty clever (albeit probably unnecessary).
QTE's like that sadly bore me still, hopefully that transitions aren't long.
 
I just spend £150 on SF6 and Diablo, both of which are multiplayer focused so you really want to get on day one.

So I’ll pick up FF way down the line, probably when it’s on sale. It went gold ages ago so they should have released it sooner! Preorder incentives are also pretty dumb for single player games.
 

Abriael_GN

RSI Employee of the Year
I kinda agree. My personal let down of the recent ff games that I have played is due to the story and pacing mainly. Have only really enjoyed ff7r main story (yes, I know but I like anything that fucks with a fanbase). Have been generally okay with the rest of the games in terms of gameplay and mechanics but I do need the game to not bore me in between the stuff that I enjoy.


QTE's like that sadly bore me still, hopefully that transitions aren't long.

From what I played, they're not.
 

DenchDeckard

Moderated wildly
Reviewers are going to praise it and it will score extremely high....there I'll be an initial spike in sales based on reviews then it will fall off a cliff I think as bad news comes in from the hardcore final fantasy fan base who are not happy with it being a character action game.

It should also be launching on PC day one ...but Sony gonna Sony with Square...so good luck square
 
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Danjin44

The nicest person on this forum
Turn based combat is just another combat system, some people enjoy it some don’t, its same as FPS which has be around for ages. None of them should considered as “outdated” just because you personally don’t like them.

I hate this stupid ass extreme arguments for both side! I enjoy both ARPG and Turn based Combat I want both combat style exist and SE still making both.
 
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If the first 5 hours of gameplay are an indication, they're less than 5% of gameplay at best.
Then why oh why oh why oh why have they waffled on about them so much and had almost every trailer focus on them?

They’ve royally fucked up the marketing if so.

Even if they are 5%, what I have seen is thoroughly uninteresting and I know I’m going to loathe those sections.
 
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Abriael_GN

RSI Employee of the Year
It was also on the Xbox and pc.

Final Fantasy XIV has never been on Xbox. What have you been smoking?

Then why oh why oh why oh why have they waffled on about them so much and had almost every trailer focus on them?

They’ve royally fucked up the marketing if so.

Imagine, the crazy idea of focusing part of the marketing on some of your most spectacular and bombastic fights.

Focusing on something *you* personally don't care for has nothing to do with "royally fucking up."

That arguing that action RPGs are “recent development compared to turn based RPGs” when they were around since at least the 1980's is absurd, especially in the context of Final Fantasy.

They are. And what can be achieved with an action RPG is much different today than it was in the 80s. You literally don't have a point.
 

CrustyBritches

Gold Member
Since I'm all digital there's not much of a reason to preorder unless there's early access or highly desirable bonus content, which in this game is xp and gil boost. I suppose I might preorder it a couple days before launch, but it's not essential.
 
Final Fantasy XIV has never been on Xbox. What have you been smoking?



Imagine, the crazy idea of focusing part of the marketing on some of your most spectacular and bombastic fights.

Focusing on something *you* personally don't care for has nothing to do with "royally fucking up."



They are. And what can be achieved with an action RPG is much different today than it was in the 80s. You literally don't have a point.
Part of the marketing? Go and look at the trailers and see just how much of a % have focused on them directly or talking about them. It’s been really OTT.

I can understand focusing on them for a small amount of the marketing, but honestly, you’d think this was GOW III bossfights most of the way through if you only followed the trailers.
 

Abriael_GN

RSI Employee of the Year
Part of the marketing? Go and look at the trailers and see just how much of a % have focused on them directly or talking about them. It’s been really OTT.

I can understand focusing on them for a small amount of the marketing, but honestly, you’d think this was GOW III bossfights most of the way through if you only followed the trailers.

In today's world. Bombastic combat and big setpieces are what marketing is based on. It's marketing 101. People want to be wowed. Discerning fans are not the target of general marketing.
 
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