Gamers often find themselves choosing between titles to buy at certain times, and there are a few things that can influence that choice. Sometimes it's as simple as wether or not a title catches the eye of the customer, but some games end up competing with each other for sales on shared release dates. When this happens, plenty of players have to pick which title is worth getting day of, and which can wait for later. For Crisis Core: Final Fantasy 7 Reunion, choosing to release later in the year might just help its success.
Crisis Core: Final Fantasy 7 Reunion was a surprise announcement during the Final Fantasy 7 25th Anniversary Celebration. After being announced with a tentative release date of holiday 2022, it was confirmed to be coming out on December 13, 2022. This may just be the release date to save the game, as many believed that Crisis Core Reunion was set to release in an already stuffed November.
How Crisis Core Reunion Dodged the Competition
There are so many games releasing in November that many will need to make tough choices on exactly what games they take home. From a fair number of AAA releases to other remakes, November typically sees a good number of releases as companies aim for the holiday rush. This year, every week sees some sort of big release. It begins with Square Enix's own Harvestella on November 4, and Warhammer 4,000: Darktide closes the month out on November 30.
The titles making up this stacked November cover all sorts of interests. Action-adventure fans have God of War: Ragnarok around the corner, with Sonic Frontiers and Skull and Bones being released the day before. The week after marks the release of Pokemon's first fully open-world adventure with Scarlet and Violet, which surely has many fans excited. Almost every gamer has something to look forward to next month, but some may need to pick favorites in terms of their monthly budget. It's understandable why Crisis Core Reunion would try to avoid all of these new games, as some players may overlook a remake for a newer title. Crisis Core is a rather unique remake, though, in the sense that some fans have waited years for its release.
Crisis Core: Final Fantasy 7 Reunion is Long Overdue
Even though the game most likely avoided November to have a better selling chance, there may be more of a demand for Reunion than people would expect at first glance. While it could be argued that Final Fantasy fans have seen more than their fair share of remasters and re-releases, the original Crisis Core has gone without a single one. It's a surprise considering CCFF7 is an important piece of the puzzle that is The Compilation of FF7. It tells the story of how Zack and Cloud met and became friends, and it also gives more of a backstory behind Sephiroth becoming an iconic villain in the original game.
Crisis Core: Final Fantasy 7 came out for PSP on September 13, 2007, marking the 10th anniversary of the original Final Fantasy 7. With that in mind, re-releasing the game to mark the series' 25th anniversary is a good move. There's a strong chance the developers wanted to release CC Reunion back in September, but they probably needed more time as they've been rather public about how Reunion isn't like every other remaster.
Competition That Crisis Core: FF7 Reunion Has in December
Compared to November, Crisis Core still has some competition, but not nearly as much as it would have. It sits at a comfortable position away from the biggest release of the month, The Calisto Protocol. However, even if Calisto doesn't hinder CCFF7 Reunion's sales, there are a few other games that might. Dragon Quest Treasures releases for Switch on December 9, which may steal a few RPG fans away from purchasing Reunion on the Nintendo console. The FF7 Remake also shares a release date with High On Life, which has already delayed itself to avoid God of War and Call of Duty in November.
However, High On Life currently has a mixed reception. Fans are either eager for a game created by the same person who made Rick and Morty, or think the game looks annoying due to the talking gun thatplayers are expected to use. High On Life is also an FPS game, so CC Reunion at the very least holds an advantage with fans who would be more up for an RPG over a first-person shooter game. Crisis Core: Final Fantasy 7 Reunion is also available on more platforms than High On Life, which is currently Xbox and Game Pass exclusive.
At the end of the day, no matter how well Crisis Core: Final Fantasy 7 Reunion sells, it was better to avoid a November release date. It's better for the FF7 release to go up against High On Life rather than be buried between other games, and with regard to the most loyal Final Fantasy fans who had other games coming out around that time, their finances won't be as stretched thin.
If there's anything that may hurt Crisis Core: Final Fantasy 7 Reunion's sales, it's that it comes out just under two weeks before Christmas, meaning there's a chance it might get overlooked by those aiming to get their presents for friends and family early. Either way, the strongest chance at success that the Reunion remake has is with fans who have been desiring for a chance to play it again since gaming moved on from the PSP.
Crisis Core: Final Fantasy 7 Reunion is launching on December 13, 2022, for PC, PS4, PS5, Switch, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.