Square Enix seems to have had a change of heart about Final Fantasy XVI‘s sales, with executive Takashi Kiryu revealing during its latest earnings call that the critically acclaimed RPG failed to meet its high expectations. This is despite recently saying that the game had performed strongly following its release on June 22.
A Bloomberg report on the earnings call reveals that Square Enix’s most recent quarter saw a 79% drop in profit, with Kiryu-san noting that Final Fantasy XVI didn’t meet expectations due to the “slow adoption” of the PS5. Perhaps if this was a few years ago that wouldn’t be surprising, but these days the PS5 is performing pretty strongly now that stock issues are a thing of the past.
Having saids that, Square Enix is known for expressing his disappointment over sales of major titles. Back when it distributed Tomb Raider, the publisher said that the game did not meet expectations despite the game having sold millions of copies.
In related news, Naoki Yoshida, one of the leading men behind Final Fantasy XIV and Final Fantasy XVI, teased that a collaboration between the two games may be possible, with more info coming later this year.