Female Audience Losing Interest In Final Fantasy Franchise?

Ever since Final Fantasy XIII-2 launched in Japan, multiple sources have been interested in the early sales results.

Most of that interest has been centered on the following fact: this sequel just isn't as popular as its predecessor right out of the gate. While FFXIII debuted with around 1.5 million sold after the first week of availability, sources like Andriasang are citing Media Create sales numbers for FFXIII-2 that are significantly lower...in fact, FFXIII-2 has only sold about 1/3 of the total copies FFXIII had sold to this point.

But there's one very interesting statistic that is worth discussing: Media Create says one of the reasons in the decline is the decreasing interest of the ladies. Apparently, interest among female audiences fell from 31.3% for FFXIII to only 22.2% for FFXIII-2. What's that about? Are they annoyed that Lightning is no longer the main character? Were girls more frustrated than guys in regards to FFXIII? And overall, why is FFXIII-2 so much less popular? ...or is that a stupid question?

Related Game(s): Final Fantasy XIII-2

Tags: ffxiii2, final fantasy xiii-2, ffxiii, final fantasy xiii, square enix

12/26/2011 8:40:26 PM Ben Dutka

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Comments (36 posts)

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Excelsior1
Monday, December 26, 2011 @ 9:18:34 PM
Reply

Yeah, it probably is a stupid question. It does take a rocket scientist to figure what's going on here. 13-2 is a direct sequel to a FF game that had a mixed reaction at best. Hell, even FFX-2 sold less than half of what FFX did and that was a direct sequel to an extremely well liked FF game. So its no surprise that 13-2 has not performed as well, It had zero hype going for it which is a big difference between it and FF13.

You could just tell out there on the web there was little interest in FF13-2. It kind of reminded me of Resistance 3. Little buzz and little interest in that game. Square/FF related threads and articles on most sites are almost dead when you visit sites like CVG, IGN, or the Sixth Axis. Those sites don't run a whole lot of FF related articles. It would appear gamers and most gaming websites have moved on for the most part. They don't live 10+ years in the past like certain people like to do. They aren't obsessed with FF or Square either....it's been a long time since there has been an ELITE FF game. Interest in the series has been in decline for quite some time it would appear. Again, the series gets a lot less attention from gamers and a lot less press coverage from websites than it did in the past. Times have changed.

Some of that interest may return when Square announces FF15, but it all depends on the direction they take the series.

As for female gamers and FF I have no freaking clue. I did not exactly see a lot of female gamers in line at Gamestop when I bought FF13. In fact, I saw zero female gamers in line for it. Maybe things were different in Japan. In all honesty I could care less. I won't be losing any sleep over how well FF13-2 performed with the female demographic.

I will still get FF13-2 day1 and judge it on its own merits...I'm not going to let Square's past influence my opinion of the game. I enjoyed FF13, and from what I hear FF13-2 is an improved sequel in almost every possible way

Last edited by Excelsior1 on 12/26/2011 9:53:52 PM

9 up, 9 down

Jawknee
Monday, December 26, 2011 @ 11:31:19 PM

It's not their past that is the problem. It's their present.

21 up, 0 down

Highlander
Tuesday, December 27, 2011 @ 11:10:12 AM

I think that you are excusing the low sales rather than addressing the real reasons.

I think that the low sales has more to do with the failure of FFXIII to actually be an FF game, and the relative loss of JRPG nature in the game. I don't know how the story in FFXIII-2 stacks up, but I'd bet that it doesn't have a very compelling narrative.

6 up, 0 down

Underdog15
Tuesday, December 27, 2011 @ 2:49:01 PM

I personally don't understand why anyone would buy a game day one and THEN judge it.

Aren't Day 1 purchases supposed to be for no brainers? Or maybe that's just my own spending habbits..

5 up, 0 down

Clamedeus
Tuesday, December 27, 2011 @ 3:41:07 PM

I personally couldn't even play FF13, it was so boring. I would play the older FF games to the likes of FF13 anyday. I find those to be better in my opinion, and I can keep playing them over and over.

5 up, 0 down

Excelsior1
Tuesday, December 27, 2011 @ 4:44:36 PM

Well, if you liked the FF13 and you hear the sequel is much improved then yeah its a no brainer. I will buy ME3 day1 as well for the same exact reasons. I think 13-2's sales can be explained by the smple reason it's a direct sequel to a FF game that's not that well liked a lot by a lot of gamers. That part is the no brainer. If one were to chart week one FF game sales in Japan it looks like the series has been going downhill in terms of popularity since FF8.

1 up, 1 down

johnld
Tuesday, December 27, 2011 @ 8:56:11 PM

in my opinion, its because the top jrpg developer for me is squaresoft, not square enix. That and final fantasy XIII made be wise up and realize squaresoft is definitely not square enix so seeing square on the box is not a must buy anymore.

0 up, 0 down

tes37
Monday, December 26, 2011 @ 9:55:43 PM
Reply

If females are losing interest in Final Fantasy, I can't say I blame them. Just like males, they know a Final Fantasy game when they see one. XIII was something kinda indescribably weird and far from a proper FF.

10 up, 0 down

bebestorm
Monday, December 26, 2011 @ 10:24:50 PM
Reply

I say its because Lightning is not the lead because Serah is the opposite of her sister. I enjoyed the fact that Serah wasnt playable in the first one. There's not enough of Snow in the sequel yeah he's stupid and annoying but quite good looking when hes quiet. Another thing I don't understand the obsession fans have with Hope. Perhaps the real question is why is there no decline with the guys considering we have Noel and Serah as the lead characters.

7 up, 0 down

BikerSaint
Monday, December 26, 2011 @ 10:55:13 PM
Reply

Hmmm, I'd like to hear it from the proper sources by knowing what all our own female gamers right here at PSXE have to say about it.
Please feel free chime in

2 up, 0 down

Jutter
Monday, December 26, 2011 @ 11:15:37 PM
Reply

I think a huge contributing factor thus far has been the planned DLC and the third party member being a monster with only a few times former party members from 13 join in. That and of course the backlash from 13 itself. That is my take on just the poor (good sales really but for a FF title it is pretty bad) sales.

I don't want to push that the female gamer's decisions are much different from what the guy gamer's choice is. I think some of those that even liked 13 chose not to buy it because the sequel has past lead characters taking secondary roles.

1 up, 0 down

SmokeyPSD
Tuesday, December 27, 2011 @ 12:04:38 AM
Reply

Only female?

8 up, 0 down

Beamboom
Tuesday, December 27, 2011 @ 1:21:10 AM
Reply

... But what would the females say if it was FF7 that were re-released instead? *That* is the question. ;)

1 up, 1 down

tes37
Tuesday, December 27, 2011 @ 1:25:16 AM

Just a wild guess, but I think they would say it's about damn time.

2 up, 0 down

Beamboom
Tuesday, December 27, 2011 @ 1:57:01 AM

I think it's probably worth an article.

1 up, 0 down

Excelsior1
Tuesday, December 27, 2011 @ 2:44:07 AM

No, it isn't. Caring what girl gamers think got us Raiden in MGS2. Apparently he was born out of a MGS1 focus group. One of the girl gamers told Hideo there were too many old dudes in MGS1 and she just did not care about them so Raiden was born. :(

4 up, 2 down

Ultimadream
Tuesday, December 27, 2011 @ 3:21:21 AM

Now don't start that again!

4 up, 0 down

Beamboom
Tuesday, December 27, 2011 @ 5:54:44 AM

I hope everyone detect the tongue-in-cheek between the lines of my posts here. It's all lighthearted fun, folks. :)

(And if you are a new psxe reader none of this will make any sense whatsoever :D )

Last edited by Beamboom on 12/27/2011 5:57:20 AM

1 up, 1 down

Highlander
Tuesday, December 27, 2011 @ 11:12:11 AM

Sounds like we need an <in-joke> attribution tag for the comments section...LOL!

3 up, 0 down

Excelsior1
Tuesday, December 27, 2011 @ 11:20:50 AM

Okay, tongue-in-cheek makes sense. I do not think you were asking for a FF related article considering your past posts on the subject.

2 up, 1 down

Ultimadream
Tuesday, December 27, 2011 @ 3:20:27 AM
Reply

XIII-2 won't be selling as well as it should due to the backlash people gave it. People pay attention to the press and reactions to games. Most people will save there money to buy games which get over 08/10. XIII was better than that yes, but the backlash it got from players was appalling; the game was no way near as bad as other people made out, sure it was not to the standard of VI - X But then not much else is.

I was let down by XII, so I have already had the diaspointment wave, XIII in my eye while it has flaws but the series in the right direction again. everything about XII was a disaster IMO. FF is not a MMO game so it should not play with one. XIII brought back characters with emotion, which was a mircale after the cardboard---outs we got from XII. Everyone whines at XIII having auto battle, but they miss the point of the whole battle system, about being on the right paradigm at the right moment. I found the combat fast and very refereshing.

My main concenr for XIII-2 is Serah, she just is not lead material, I was hoping we'd get a beter selection of playable characters, but it seems like that wont happen much. But I do like the idea of the monsters and I am hoping they wont all just be re-hashes of XIII's monsters, I want to see many classic FF beasts like the Marlboro put back into action.

I for one will be purchasing XIII-2 day one its the only game I am currently looking forward to really. It's only 5 or so weeks until we get it, so we'll all find out for ourselves what its like if we're still interested.

3 up, 3 down

BigBoss4ever
Tuesday, December 27, 2011 @ 3:33:19 AM
Reply

this is wut you deserve, Squeenix, the oldest and best of living exampling of falling from greed and losing one's mind, in this case, losing all mind. i shed no tears, therefore.

Last edited by BigBoss4ever on 12/27/2011 3:34:10 AM

2 up, 0 down

Ultimate_Balla
Tuesday, December 27, 2011 @ 6:35:15 AM
Reply

Aye, i'm flat-broke in FF13, maybe if we could get Gil from defeated foes again? Trapz farming ain't on when I ain't got the Gil to purchase the weapons, ya feel? Hahaha

1 up, 0 down

homura
Tuesday, December 27, 2011 @ 1:53:55 PM

Kill the 3 tonberries over & over again in titan's trial, it always drop a tonberry figurine which you can sell,

0 up, 0 down

Ludakriss
Wednesday, December 28, 2011 @ 5:45:11 AM

Not the same. Really isn't.

0 up, 0 down

Oxvial
Tuesday, December 27, 2011 @ 9:55:17 AM
Reply

This FF gonna be remembered as the one that people forgot it was even released, yeah I'm not kidding even on forums a bunch of people didn't know the game was already on Japan.. first time I recall something like this happened to the FF franchise.

3 up, 0 down

MyWorstNightmar
Tuesday, December 27, 2011 @ 10:28:52 AM
Reply

Wait. What am I missing? Sales went from 1,500,000 down to 500,000 which is a 200% drop, and we are discussing only a 9% drop in female interest? Seems the male interest has dropped even more significantly.

2 up, 0 down

MyWorstNightmar
Tuesday, December 27, 2011 @ 10:48:37 AM

Excuse my math. It is a 67% drop in sales.

2 up, 0 down

Highlander
Tuesday, December 27, 2011 @ 11:17:02 AM
Reply

I think that at a time when female gamers are apparently growing in number, this is not a good trend for FF.

Frankly, I think that this drop in interest is linked to three things. Story, character and game genre. It seems to me that the story and characters of FFXIII were less compelling than those in previous entries in the long running series of FF games. FFXIII-2 reduces the number of playable characters even further, and as such leaves precious little scope for a compelling narrative with so few characters. Finally though, the FFXIII game dropped almost all pretense of being a JRPG, and the latest entry does not look like it corrects that (in my opinion), and leans towards an action genre instead.

I would cite these as possible factors in a decline of interest among female gamers. Of course I would cite these as factors in a decline of interest among gamers of all genders.

5 up, 1 down

johnld
Tuesday, December 27, 2011 @ 9:05:21 PM

i think it can be gameplay too. they made the battle system too fast compared to other final fantasy games. basically it feels like the combat is rushed. with that, the series was a true rpg then became a full blown action game with XIII and XIII-2. at least from my observations, friends of course, women try to shy away from faster paced games. call of duty games aside.

0 up, 0 down

Looking Glass
Tuesday, December 27, 2011 @ 12:56:05 PM
Reply

If female players are losing interest in the FF franchise I would imagine it's for a number of reasons. But I would be willing to bet that one of them is that in FFXIII we have a strong and arguably multi-dimensional leading lady that wasn't sexualized to be more appealing to males. But in the sequel she is not the lead anymore. I imagine that would be a at least a bit of a turn off for many female players.

0 up, 0 down

homura
Tuesday, December 27, 2011 @ 3:51:15 PM
Reply

@Excelsior

A girl gamer has all the rights to have a say about MGS, FF and every game that you think should be played only by boys.

2 up, 0 down

GazerBlitz
Wednesday, December 28, 2011 @ 3:54:39 AM
Reply

I think that its partially because the game got too troublesome... just to get to the secret ending is so long and also, the mains this time just arent as strong as in FFXIII or for that matter, the previous FF games. I feel that Square Enix might have been too occupied with creating the sequel and have not taken into consideration the distinctive characteristics of FF games making FXIII-2 veer away from being a proper JRPG game. The endings were also quite disappointing and this might have affected sales if gamers who were disappointed have spread their feelings regarding the game.

True, the graphics maybe somewhat impressive with cinematic gameplay, but the kinda flat storyline and endings were a major turnoff.

There was also very little hype or advertising in the media as compared to FXIII. Even the trailers for FXIII was much more enticing for me... personally... not sure about the males though... does the drop in female interest really affect the sales figures to such a large degree... Obviously the developers have missed out something to keep the interest of the male gaming population too :(

0 up, 0 down

Ludakriss
Wednesday, December 28, 2011 @ 5:51:30 AM
Reply

Could it be that the game suck balls and lost most of it's majestic feel of FF? So lazy to even write about it.

I'm going to play Crysis Core right now. Could be considered as a contradiction by some but...eh, what you gonna do, right? xDD Shits and giggles people.

Turn your sights to someone that CAN indeed provide for your RPG needs. Sure as gamer, we know Squeenix ain't gonna provide. Not anymore.

0 up, 0 down

Highlander
Wednesday, December 28, 2011 @ 12:01:06 PM

level 5
Atlus
NISA (technically more of a publisher, but they act as a funnel for bringning lots of good stuff in the JRPG world to the west)

0 up, 0 down

MMKM
Friday, December 30, 2011 @ 10:11:36 AM
Reply

As a female gamer, and a FF fangirl from the SNES days, I'm not that excited for FFXIII-2. I don't think my reasons are that much different from male gamers' reasons for not being interested in the game.

1. I have no interest in playing Lightning's whiny little sister. She's fine as a secondary, as in XIII, but as a lead? >.<
2. I didn't really get into the new battle system, but that's personal preference. I like being able to control the specific actions of each party member individually, not just the leader's.
3. The story isn't grabbing me. When I play a FF game, I want a big, sweeping story. FFXIII didn't quite do it, and I don't see XIII-2 being much different.

0 up, 0 down

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