As Final Fantasy Resonance has a strong start, and, like Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, proves what an appetite JRPG fans have for turn-based games, one analyst suggests that Square Enix "knows what it's missed out on" after its "move towards more action-oriented Final Fantasy titles."
Square Enix's new turn-based, HD-2D release launched last week and quickly dethroned Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth as the series' single-player games' highest concurrent player peak on Steam. And, as you might expect, that's translated to a lot of money for Square Enix, too.
According to Alinea Analytics analyst Rhys Elliott, Resonance has now sold 400k copies across PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X|S, bringing in $20 million in revenue. That's obviously rather a lot, and Elliott suggests it reflects what JRPG fans actually want and that Square Enix is catering to it. It's also worth keeping in mind that this doesn't include what the game made on the Nintendo Switch 2.
"Given the strong positive reaction to – and early sales of – Resonance and last year's Expedition 33 (which is tracking way better than recent Final Fantasy games), it's clear that Square Enix has left a significant chunk of JRPG players behind during their move towards more action-oriented Final Fantasy titles," he suggests.
"While Square chased more Western trends, a Western company swept in and released Expedition 33, a game JRPG fans wanted for decades and even won game of the year at The Game Awards," he continues. "Square knows this, knows what it's missed out on, and it's seen Capcom succeed on Steam with its legacy franchises where Square Enix has arguably floundered."
Obviously, that isn't to say that Final Fantasy Resonance was made in response to Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, as it was in the works well before Sandfall's reveal, let alone its wildly successful launch last year. However, the timing of another turn-based RPG gaining so much traction can't be ignored, and Elliott suggests that Square Enix may consider altering its strategy going forward.
"I can see Square Enix going down a new route, with many diverging paths, for Final Fantasy," he explains. "They've already outlined their plans to go fully multiplatform, smartly moving away from timed PlayStation exclusivity.
هەفتانە هەرسکردنەکان، چیرۆکەکانی ئەو کۆمەڵگایانەی کە خۆشت دەوێن و زۆر شتی تر
سەرچاوەی فەرمی بە زمانی ئینگلیزی: https://www.gamesradar.com/games/final-fantasy/final-fantasy-resonance-and-clair-obscur-expedition-33-success-means-all-signals-point-to-square-enix-making-a-mainline-turn-based-jrpg-analyst-says-just-a-matter-of-time
