“Who is Final Fantasy for these days?” is a question without an obvious answer, but it’s one that its developer and publisher, Square Enix, must reckon with all the same. Both Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth and Final Fantasy 16 failed to meet sales expectations according to Square’s financial report from September, which created a whirlwind of takes on why that was, and what Final Fantasy’s future could or should look like.
I don't have the crystal ball I'd need to tell you which of those takes are right or wrong. What does seem clear is that the era of Final Fantasy as the Japanese role-playing game series that most people are thinking of when the genre comes up—the one with a grip on games culture that’s a guaranteed sales bonanza—is at an end.
