Final Fantasy 7 Remake Intergrade just launched on Nintendo Switch 2. (Also on Xbox Series X|S, but if you’ll forgive my bluntness, there’s a reason that’s not quite as headline-worthy.) Director Naoki Hamaguchi has been keenly interested in seeing how the Nintendo crowd would take to 2020’s trilogy-launching Midgar-centric epic, and frankly, so have we. If the sales numbers are solid, it bodes well not just for Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth’s own upcoming port, but for the grand finale that’s still to come.
This stuff’s important on several levels. Square Enix has publicly shifted its operating strategy to include a multiplatform-first approach. In Japan, where the Nintendo Switch 2 is selling like hotcakes takoyaki, not putting your product on Nintendo platforms in the modern age is a recipe for a financial misfire. Everyone knows Rebirth’s PS5-only 2024 launch wasn’t particularly hot, too; although, thankfully, sales have recovered quite nicely in the nearly two years since.
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All of this is to say, the pressure was on for Remake to kickstart the trilogy’s Nintendo era in style. It’s a great port, with positive impressions from plenty of media outlets. That helps. Nintendo is also a fertile ground for JRPGs in general, which probably helps all the more so. Even so, the possibility existed of an underwhelming opener. To the contrary, all available data points suggest not just a good launch, but a damned good one.
What A Sellout
First, a disclaimer. This is the kind of thing I like to toss into my reporting because it frequently goes unsaid. When we look at gaming chart placements, we’re missing the actual numbers. If something is at the top, but the full list is relatively unimpressive regarding the number of units sold, it’s still noteworthy, but it’s less so than it might seem at first blush. Furthermore, if a retailer ordered relatively few copies of a game, then selling out isn’t quite the thunderous achievement it would have been had plenty of stock been secured.
Now, were I so skeptical as to think the above context nuked the probable strength of Final Fantasy 7 Remake Intergrade’s Switch 2 debut, I wouldn’t have written this article. In fact, the painted picture here remains rosy — just rosy with the usual asterisk.
As Twitter user @ActualAero notes, FF7 Remake has run out of stock at Target, GameStop, and Best Buy. (Worth mentioning, by the way, that this is a GKC release. Code-in-cartridge fare. Meh, but so it goes.) On the U.S. Amazon site, it’s the #1 Switch 2 game as of this writing. Nintendo Everything reports it’s also #1 on the Nintendo eShop.
None of these figures should be expected to last for long. JRPGs are infamously front-loaded affairs, and while games like Final Fantasy will generally continue to sell in small numbers over a long period of time (which is important to Square Enix’s sustained bottom line), the biggest splash by far is almost always at the start of the race. Put plainly, then, you really want to see good results out the gate, and these do tend to qualify.
I’m thinking the Nintendo audience showed up big-time for this. We’ll have firm numbers from certain sources soon, most notably via Media Create for Japan, where we’re treated to precise physical-only sales figures. There’ll be a lot we won’t hear, but with so much smoke, there’s bound to be fire. Bring on Rebirth, Square.
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Naoki Hamaguchi himself has gotten in on the celebration, with a couple of mentions already of his appreciation for Remake’s Switch 2 success. In the above tweet, he doesn’t exactly go into detail – but the confetti he’s throwing is genuine. Trust me, I’ve met the guy. He’s happy.
