Square Enix has gone on record to say it's happy with the initial sales stats of PS5 exclusive Final Fantasy XVI, going so far as to consider them "extremely strong". In a statement given to IGN, the Japanese publisher goes on to compare the sales figures of Final Fantasy VII Remake on PS4 in relation to the PS5's growing install base, stating Final Fantasy XVI has a high attachment rate when compared to what Cloud and co managed.
The full quote reads: "With 38 million PS5 consoles shipped globally (as of March 31, 2023), sales of Final Fantasy 16 surpassed three million units worldwide several days after its release on June 22, 2023. Taking into consideration the sales figures of the acclaimed Final Fantasy 7 Remake and the difference in size of the install base of the PlayStation 4 at the time of this title’s release, we can see that the attach rate of Final Fantasy 16 is considerably high, given the PS5 install base."
It then continues: "Square Enix considers the initial sales results of Final Fantasy 16 to be extremely strong, and we will continue to carry out a wide range of initiatives to encourage even more people to play the game."
Concern surrounding the sales of Final Fantasy XVI began to spread as the game's sales plummeted in Japan during its second week on the market, while the RPG has dropped out of the top 10 best-selling physical titles in the UK. Given the fact Square Enix has in the past been disappointed by what first appeared to be high sales numbers for other franchises it once owned like Tomb Raider and Deus Ex, this will be welcome news for fans.
With the game considered a success in-house — at least for now — producer Naoki Yoshida is contemplating DLC for the game. "But now we understand we're getting feedback from players that have played the game, and lots of players want to see more, and we know that and understand that. For us, we're taking that and then thinking about our options moving forward. So hopefully in the future, we can have something that we can give to you all," he said in an interview.
[source ign.com]
Comments 88
No the fanboys on Twitter told me that the game wasn’t successful square enix is lying 😈. In all seriousness I glad the game was a success for square enix.
In my opinion it's a great game, there are some slow moments but others are epic especially towards the end. I'm still upset from a previous pushsquare.com article that stated the entire final fantasy series has sold less than GTA5. I worry about the youth of today 😢🤣
This is the first time I've read an article about Square being satisfied with a game's performance. Wow.
3M sales exclusively sold on ps5 is really good sales. I remember octopath traveller 1 sold more on switch compared to octopath 2 on more console, I think it's better for squareenix to have timed exclusive attached to some console before selling it anywhere else.
@4kgk2 Just salty turned based fans.
These are rubbish comments from salty fans as this is an exclusive. It is a great game with an engrossing story and fantastic gameplay. Finished the game this week after 75 hours. Will do ff mode for more challenge and platinum.
It's a great game and it deserves the success. Glad SE is happy enough about the sales. Really hope we get story DLCs soon
The folks calling it unsuccessful must not play many games...period. There are many devs out there that would feel like they hit the lottery if a game they put out hit half a million sales let alone 3 million in a month.
At the end of the day the publisher will know if it was successful or not for themselves. Square hasn't exactly been shy to say if something disappointed in the past either so if it wasn't successful I'm pretty sure we would hear about it.
Great game. Can't say it enough to be honest 😁
One to experience for yourself and make your own mind up on, for sure. The overall response has been great too, even user reviews on push square are both high average scores, and numerous.
444 total user reviews here, 3 less than God of War, 200 more than Diablo 4. I hope it has a great second wind in the sales when they eventually hit, so more can experience all of the EPIC moments.
Finished it last week, loved it aside from some minor issues. Can’t wait for FF7 Rebirth, 9 remake and tactics remaster, and a hopeful port of the 13 trilogy!! Keep it coming!!
I'm hoping they do indeed make dlc for it. I personally really loved FF16 and would love to see more.
Square Enix happy with the sales of one of their games?!?? That's a sign of the incoming apocalypse
Excellent. Glad to hear it.
I finished it the night before last and I can't stop thinking about the ending.
I'll be jumping in to the challenges tonight and starting FF mode when I'm done with them.
The combat in the game is so good.
Once you figure out the right balance of Eikons and Eikon abilities that suits your play style the fights feel like something I can only describe as high fantasy anime poetry.
More please.
I just hate that the game is not clicking with me, despite loving the FF series. I’m at 33% and I have no connection at all to the story and characters. At first the combat pulled me through it, but that’s getting rather one dimensional as well.
I don’t want to quit, but it feels like a drag to complete the remaining 67%.
Like I said previously, this is like Horizon last year where certain people tried to spread this narrative that the game flopped.
The reference to the attachment rate tells me that SE expects FF16 to become a PS5 evergreen, with an ongoing high attachment rate in future. I am actually surprised that SE is happy, because I assume that the production and marketing costs were pretty high. Good for SE.
Oh boy how will doom posters try to spin this one? Probably flock over to 7 Rebirth next to doom and gloom it too
"for a more gritty, action-oriented experience inspired by Game of Thrones" I love how this couldn't be more further from the truth lol
Considering its a departure from the turn-based or actually ATB system they have built the brand on I have a feeling they knew it was going to isolate some people and adjusted to that. IMO
@KaijuKaiser Yes! I've seen people complain that there was no strategy involved, but I had multiple strategies and preferred Eikon combinations depending on the kind of fight I was in.
"...makes you feel empty because you didn’t want the journey to end." Exactly this. I need more time with those characters.
@Shepherd_Tallon As I progressed and started getting more Eikons I started releasing certain Eikons are good for certain situations and boss fights actually pretty in-depth.
Glad to hear it! One of the best Final Fantasy’s in the franchise from where I’m sitting.
Proof that twitter folk are talking out of their rear end (and everyone should be a bit more sceptical before reporting on stuff as fact). Good to see this statement from Square Enix and i hope the game continues to sell well
It’s quite frankly my favorite PS5 exclusive yet (and it may end up being my GotY, despite the fact that I acknowledge that TotK is the superior game… though I’ve got Pikmin 4, Alan Wake, and Starfield yet to compete for me), so I’m really pleased to see Square happy with it. We all know that is a rare achievement.
Woohoo! Lovely news to hear!
Cold day in hell! Square being happy with sales of any game was borderline impossible in my book. Glad to hear it, well deserved.
Removed - current gen piracy/emulation
About time they’re happy with sales.
@CutchuSlow I feel the same way about every Nintendo game
Is this the same SE that sold about two billion copies of Tomb Raider and then said it was a flop?
I'm waiting for that moment when "considering initiatives to encourage even more people to play the game" means $20 sale.
Played all side missions and completed the game in 70hrs, it's a great game and I enjoyed it. The game is a 6 month exclusive meaning it will come out on other platforms later so I donny know why fanboys would want this to fail.
It’s a great game and I’m glad that it’s done well.
@Somebody 🤣 same
@WhensDinner Having had a quick read up on Shadow of the Tomb raider, it sold 4m in the first 4 months and 8m in total across 5 platforms, not shabby at all but hardly 2 billion copies, more like it was copied 2 billion times on PC
@SonOfClement it probably just coming to pc not Xbox.
Of course Square Enix is satisfied with this. They’re always are satisfied with the sales of their Japanese games. It was only the western games they were never satisfied with.
Time to buy SE Sony.
@QualityGeezer lol.
I have a hacked switch... Shh!
@CutchuSlow what you mean?
I hope that if there's DLC it's much more than the tiny DLCs from FF15. I really want them to make a sequel with this combat system because it has potential to be even better than it is rn.
@4kgk2 you are going to take their word for it? they can spin this any way they want. being critical of its sales publically wouldn't be a good PR move for them. the fact the game is out of the top 10 in europe after less than a month is concerning, whether s-e admits it or not.
This game is excellent and deserves its sucess.
@Porco they call Forspoken a failure publicly so if ff16 was a failure they would tell us. Physical sales only tell part of the story so you can’t fully depend on retail sales charts.
@Porco no, I'll take the word of random negative people on the internet. Much more reliable. They're never wrong.
@AdamNovice but why do they have to lie that it flopped? The sales of a game doesn't matter to anyone but square enix. And they should know how well it sells. So lying about it doesn't make sense.
Good to see it doing well. At $50 bucks i am in. Just waiting on the first sale and I’ll snag it. I have plenty to play while it’s full price. If I finish everything and it’s still full price i will buy it for $70 and enjoy it all the same.
@KaijuKaiser I liked the characters of both games but 16 definitely stuck with me far more(Especially due to 15's rushed narrative) and that ending, god damn it was amazing.
It warms my heart finally knowing this game is actually succeeding despite all the negative articles about it failing ❤️❤️
Not easy for square to be pleased, as history has shown. It shows a strong single format game can be very commmerialy viable..
Well the truth is that the game is losing momentum and Square just trying to keep up interest. I will do my part after a price drop. This game is one of the reasons i got PS5 at first place
@naruball take the word of history and facts. all you need to do is look at the sales numbers of the previous entries to know how they stack up. considering this game was marketed as an action rpg (and has more widespread appeal compared to turn-based) you would expect the sales to be at least half of ff 15 (5m+) taking into account the install base of ps5 vs ps4 at the time of their respected releases. are we still going to defend ff 16 sales when it becomes the worst selling ff entry of the past 15 years? is that something to celebrate?
Good for it doing so well…
I just hope that doesn’t mean this is all we get going forward (Grim-dark, rated M). Final Fantasy needs to set itself apart in my opinion, but not this way. It’s not even the turn based thing that frustrated me (I actually really like FF XV), it’s just an overall tone with the content that I don’t really want or need in my life.
I’m 44. I have kids, I teach school, and personally, lots of swearing, innuendo, and blood is just off putting for me.
@Porco selective facts at its finest. You leave out so many parts of the equation, it's not even funny. For one thing, how much did each entry cost? We know FF15 cost a fortune because it took a long time to make and changed considerably since its initial reveal (FF13versus).
@4kgk2 a physical sales decline is a reflection of how the game is performing on the whole, though, including digitally. a severe dip in physical sales likely means a severe dip in digital sales is occuring as well... it's not like we can say those who purchase physical games didn't like ff 16 as much as those who purchase games digitally. the point is, the game is on a severe downward trajectory after less than a month on sale which means the ff brand is not what it once was. i mean, most entries since ff7 sold 7-10m+ bearing in mind that jrpgs were not as popular back in the 90s through the 2000s.
@naruball so you are choosing to overlook poor sales due to the budget supposedly being smaller than that of ff 15? why are you changing the topic? we will never know how "profitable" the game is since we don't have that data. what we do have is prior sales of previous entries in the series and it looks as though ff 16 will be the worst selling ff game of the past 15 years. this is not helping your argument in the least.
actually, scratch past 15 years. this will be one of the worst selling ff games of the past 25 years, with the exception of ff 9 and maybe ff 12. at any rate, we are talking 3rd worst selling mainline ff entry of the past 25 years. yup, take out the champaigne because this game is selling like hotcakes
@Gaia093 I'm almost positive they made this statement under duress.
I simply don't believe they
"have met sales expectations "
@JDCII I love the darkest of Ff16.
@Porco You do understand what the topic of discussion is, right? Square Enix being happy with sales. So, no. The budget most certainly and unequivocally isn't off topic. Won't waste any more time here. Believe that you're right no matter what.
Guess I'll eat crow this time. I was wrong.
@4kgk2 from the Twitter crew you’d think square was going under with how “bad” FFXVI was selling
Despite its faults, I haven’t had this much fun with a new Final Fantasy game at launch since IX or X. I’ve played through it three times already. There are parts that don’t work very well on their own, but as a complete package, FFXVI is an astounding work of art. I’m glad to hear Square agrees. Easily my favorite PS5 game so far.
Also, I quite literally can’t stop listening to Away on repeat.
The conversation around whether 16 is a true Final Fantasy reminds me of why I hate the "[blank] game doesn't feel like a [blank] game" argument. One of the biggest problems in any artistic medium is stagnation, and there are quite a few franchises that are content with keeping the same formula long after it stopped working. I don't deny that not all of Final Fantasy's innovations have been for the best, but I admire that the creators have never been one to rest on their laurels and pump out something lazy. Say what you will about 13 and 15, they weren't lazy.
I'm saving the final mission for the weekend. Got 43 of 50 trophies so far, 85 hours played. Love the game and looking forward to playing it again in Final Fantasy mode.
Of course they will say that. Why would any publisher spread bad news about a game after a month? Remember when Microsoft considered halo infinite a success on launch?
How about the longevity?
Adding PC, dare I say Xbox, Steam, Cloud providers etc. would have added many more sales. I hope Sony really money hatted them. Let’s be honest, they are not happy with sales.
Success or not. If the game cost them as much as I heard they're still way deep in the red with this one. 3mill á $70 minus the Sony cut's less then 150 million (if we stick with one currency). Hopefully the game has legs.
@naruball i don't know about you, but i'm just here to talk about videogames — sometimes that involves posing counter arguments. would you prefer that this forum was an echochamber where everyone agreed, shared the same values and opinions? no need to be dismissive towards differing perspectives. agree to disagree on this one and move on. no hard feelings.
Controversy aside, I figured it was going to sell well just given the marketing hype generated. This statement though seems to expect it'll keep selling steadily which isn't an impression I don't think anyone but them has
@cburg A Pc version is probably coming down the line, Sony actively helped with development and going multi-platform would have taken much more for the title to release.
@NEStalgia You should give this game a chance. You never know, you might just be pleasantly surprised.
@Jimmer-jammer Oh, yeah I do intend to, once it goes under $45, which is my standard for all new games now. My dislike is just about naming it what it is when it's something clearly different, not total lack of interest in what it actually really is! Though my backlog is massive and I haven't even started hfw yet which I expected to have finished months ago, PSVR2 really just consumed me for months when it launched..... So it might be a while... But yeah I'm not totally disinterested in the game itself, just the whole "see this is clearly an rpg" routine.
Though the mountains if cutscenes might be the biggest bane for me. I really don't like watching tons of cutscenes like that.
@NEStalgia Fair enough! Yeah, it’s definitely not an RPG. But it’s very Final Fantasy (can of worms…open😂). Glad to hear you’ve been enjoying PSVR2!
This can’t be right…. Did their regular PR person get sick or something?
Most Final Fantasy games are a miss for me but this one is very good then keeps me easily invested, just hit 20 hours. It feels like it just started into the story honestly.
FF7 remake first week approx 4 million copies sold with 108 million ps4 consoles shipped worldwide at the time of release.
FF16 3 million copies sold in first week with 38.5 PS5s sold worldwide upon its release.
This is likely due to regular FF bans buying it, and that it catered more to territories outside of Japan, and had an incredible demo.
There is no way to argue those incredible numbers. The game is an absolute smash hit, and for good reason, its an astounding game. The directing is absolute hollywood blockbuster level. Fantastic soundtrack, insane art direction. Its incredible. I feel like I did when I first played FF7. There was nothing like it at the time, it was mindblowing. FF16 is a marvel to behold.
@McBurn Thats 3 million in first week, with only 38.5 ps5s out there. FF7 remake sold about 4 in first week with nearly 3 times as many consoles shipped at the time of release. This game will be bringing in money for a long time. You forget they also get an assload of money for making it exclusive im sure.
Good news! all this negative talk was waffle then I thought it would be due to it only being on 1 system I think it'll do well again when it launches on PC and performance can be pushed further
@durxll123 : Ah yes, you're right! I totally forgot about the money they got from Sony in the first place >< then I guess it checks out with them being happy for the time being.
@KaijuKaiser If Ben Starr doesn't win best performance I swear heads will roll 😅
This is now fighting with X for my favourite Final Fantasy so I'm over the moon to hear this ^__^
@personauser93 I'm really hoping for a remaster of the XIII trilogy (or at least for them to be added to PS Plus). Additionally, a remaster/remake of Final Fantasy XI for PS5 would complete the main series on Playstation (with XIII).
@cburg Xbox wouldn't add much to the sales. Honestly, we'd just hear about Xbox gamers whining that the game isn't on Game Pass.
Good for them but still I’m kinda trepidations over the full game myself ( having only touched the demo) mainly cause I heard all sorts of conflicting opinions of the game itself concerning its mechanics, story and side quests and wether or not it’s a total betrayal of the FF experience (having not played enough of the other games yet I can’t say for sure on that front). Kotaku’s alarmist and perhaps biased in hindsight articles about other aspects also put me off at the time.
@Sekijo was just a joke good grief I seriously can't recall them saying anything but" it's failed to meet sales expectations".
@4kgk2 good. nobody wants the game to fail. if YouTubers are hating on people who had doubts then that’s their problem not yours got it?
@Sekijo oh my dear God.........🤦♂️
Come on Sony buy your long time BFF since the PS1 days already hahah anyway congrats to FFXVI!
@Shad361 dunno wasn't that halo infinite hyped up with its reveal trailer looking nothing like the actual product?
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