There are licenses that we cannot imagine disappearing from the landscape for a very long time, and yet they are gradually losing ground. Final Fantasy is trying to attract a younger audience, but its efforts are far from paying off according to these new figures.
Licenses that were once legendary no longer have the same aura and Square Enix is experiencing this today with its two historic pillars: Dragon Quest et Final Fantasy. If the first was able to begin its return thanks to its policy of precise remakes, the second is still struggling to seduce beyond its historical base, despite a deliberately action-oriented FF16 to please modern audiences, and two excellent episodes of the FF7 Remake trilogy. Despite everything, Square Enix continues to have disproportionate financial expectations while the reality is unequivocal: Final Fantasy is now a license “for old people”, and recent figures confirm this trend.
Final Fantasy, a license for those over 30
According to data shared by the Circana institute, 77% of American gaming players FF7 Rebirth are over 30 years old. An observation that is not surprising, and far from trivial for a saga which, for decades, established itself as a major gateway to the Japanese RPG and democratized it in the West. Placed in this historical context, this figure is mainly explained by the very nature of the project, offering a rereading of a work which definitively marked the 90s and video games. The Final Fantasy 7 Remake trilogy has never hidden its focus on attracting new players, but this project is especially carefully crafted for the audience who grew up with Cloud, Aerith and Tifa. Ultimately, it was the figures for FF16 that it would have been interesting to analyze, which had the open ambition of modernizing the saga by offering more action-oriented gameplay.
But the latest trends show that there is no miracle solution. Final Fantasy 16, like FF7 Remake, abandoned traditional turn-based gameplay in favor of more nervous gameplay, where the player is more active. Then, in the meantime, productions like Baldur’s Gate 3 and Clair Obscur Expedition 33 met with resounding critical and commercial success, going against all of Square Enix’s beliefs.
Young people cannot attach themselves to the license
For Naoki Yoshida, at the head of FF16 and the revival of FF14, this aging of the public is partly explained by the inability of the youngest to become attached to it as we old sea dogs can. Where a generation of consoles could accommodate several episodes of the saga, the cycle between each game has become longer, the releases too spaced out. In a market where attention is diverted to the rhythm of current trends, Final Fantasy is no longer able to stand out from the crowd. The license has fortunately not lost its audience, but its challenge is now more complex. It must now conquer a new one, in an era punctuated by strong releases, where a simple name, as prestigious as it may be, is no longer enough to sell.
Source : Circa
