Monthly Archives: May 2021

Final Fantasy 7 Remake Intergrade Exclusive to PS5 for Six Months Minimum

In a new trailer released today, Square Enix has confirmed that Final Fantasy 7 Remake Intergrade will be exclusive to PlayStation 5 for at least six months. A graphic at the end of the “Final Trailer” for Final Fantasy 7 Remake Intergrade reveals that the game will remain exclusive to Sony’s console for at least the first six months after it releases. The trailer also showcases more of the new expanded story of the game, focusing particularly on the new Yuffie chapter and revealing some new boss fights, such as a new encounters against Scarlett in a combat-ready new Shinra mech suit. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2021/05/07/final-fantasy-7-remake-intergrade-final-trailer"] The exclusivity window is not entirely surprising given that the original release of Final Fantasy 7 Remake was exclusive to PS4, and also had a timed exclusivity deal in place. This approach seems to follow the trend of Sony striking exclusivity deals for Square Enix’s big titles, with Final Fantasy XVI and Forspoken also planning to launch first on PS5. It has not yet been revealed whether FF7 Remake Intergrade will be ported to Xbox or PC after the six month exclusivity window. Square Enix does have a history of porting their games to multiple systems following exclusivity deals, however, such as Rise of the Tomb Raider launching exclusively on the Xbox One, and releasing on the PS4 later. If Intergrade does end up releasing on Xbox systems or PC, though, it wouldn't be until the exclusivity period was up, which would be December this year at the earliest. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2020/01/31/final-fantasy-7-remake-theme-song-trailer"] Final Fantasy 7 Remake Intergrade launches on the 10th June, but if you're hungry for more Final Fantasy, Square is also planning to expand on the FF7 universe through additional content and games such as The First Soldier and Ever Crisis that aim to build on the lore of the FF7 compilation of games. Final Fantasy 7 Remake was recently part of March's Playstation Plus update on the PS4, and PS4 gamers can get a free upgrade to the next-gen version, but it won't include the Yuffie content without additional purchase. [poilib element="accentDivider"] Liam Wiseman is a Freelance News Writer at IGN, and likes Final Fantasy waaay too much. You can follow him on Twitter @liamthewiseman

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AMC is Giving its New Shareholder Base What They Want

At the height of Stonks Mania, there were two companies that seemingly benefitted from a mad rush of individual, retail investors — GameStop and AMC Entertainment.

A quick recap for those who may have forgotten: back in January, retail investors (non-professional) started buying up large percentages of GameStop and AMC stocks. The basic rundown is that a sea of retail investors decided to push back against the big guys (institutional investors), effectively calling out their plans to bet against companies like GameStop and AMC. This is called short stopping.

For a full breakdown of what exactly happened and why it matters, I highly recommend Elizabeth Lopatto’s excellent write-up over at The Verge. But all we really need to understand is that millions of people started buying AMC stock, and effectively helped AMC survive the most tumultuous time in company history.

[ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2021/01/28/what-is-going-on-with-gamestop-stock-ign-now"]

The effect of this dash, currently being investigated by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), is still uncertain. What’s adamantly clear, however, is both GameStop and AMC have a new army of bosses (shareholders) they have to please. AMC is leaning into it full stop.

On the company’s recent earnings call, CEO Adam Aron acknowledged that AMC now has “an army of passionate, interested individual shareholders, some three million strong,” adding that at last count it was closer to 3.2 million. This will change how AMC interacts with new management, as Aron put it. No longer will Aron prioritize CNBC spots, which are difficult to attain in general. Instead, Aron is touting websites like Reddit and YouTube as the best way to reach their new shareholder base.

“Just go on Twitter, just go on Reddit, just go on YouTube,” Aron said. “Read what these people write. They love AMC.”

Or, to put it another way, a large percentage of AMC’s owners live on the internet, so that’s where he’ll be, too.

“You're going to see a lot more outreach to literally millions of investors in our company, and it's going to be quite public,” Aron said, adding that he’s “started tweeting again.”

[ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2020/04/30/why-amc-is-banning-universal-movies-ign-now"]

For analysts and non-retail investors, Aron’s love for a relatively new base of shareholders may be concerning. How does the shift in power affect business decisions that AMC makes, for example?

While AMC is starting to come out of its worst period, the company is also entering a new, completely unfamiliar world. Here’s how one analyst poised that exact question to AMC’s top executive team: “If management thinks that increasing the share authorization is the best move for the company but the new shareholders don't, then what is the way forward from there?” Aron, as is standard for the chief executive, didn’t mince words.

“If management thinks something and the owners of our business think something else, in the free market system, guess who wins? Guess who always wins?” Aron said. “The owners of the business — because management works for the owners.”

There are ways that management can “try and persuade” the shareholders about a strategy, but Aron made it apparent that he believes they’ll work together to ensure AMC’s success continues. That includes ensuring their interests are heard and respected.

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For example: gorillas. AMC Cares, the company’s charity arm, is donating $50,000 to the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund, which goes to helping gorilla wildlife in Central Africa. Aron is also donating an additional $50,000 from his own pocket to the fund. Why? Because AMC’s new investors have embraced the cause, so AMC will, too.

“I work for them. So by definition, their interests and passions are important to AMC,” Aron said, adding that “many of our investors, too, have embraced Dian Fossey's cause and have raised substantial monies for it.”

Sure, retail investors may believe in saving gorillas. Raising money for the foundation is a noble cause, to be clear. But retail investors, many of whom may hang out on subreddits like r/wallstreetbets and talk in memes, may just love the idea of finding a cause that relates to “apes strong together,” a saying that is used when individual retail investors are “bullish on heavily-shorted stocks like GameStop,” according to Investopedia.

Is it possible that the CEO of AMC picked a foundation because of a meme generated on r/wallstreetbets that more than three million of his new shareholders have embraced? Absolutely. Is leaning into a meme base generated on a subreddit a good business plan? I certainly don't know.

But remember: the internet is real — and the effects of a “meme economy” are starting to play out in the real world.