
There's been a lot of debate over Final Fantasy 16 and its sales numbers. Whether it's because of tiresome fanboy wars on social media (Final Fantasy 16 is currently a PS5 exclusive, remember), Square Enix's long history of being disappointed in its products, expectations that have been set by previous Final Fantasy titles, or, more than likely a bit of everything, Clive and the gang's commercial success has been a heated talking point over the last couple of months.
In terms of actual figures, all we know for sure is that Final Fantasy 16 shipped and sold 3 million copies in its first week or so. Beyond that, Square Enix has been pretty quiet, outside of some potentially misconstrued comments made during earnings calls. We also know that the action RPG dropped out of regional sales charts quite quickly — particularly in the UK and Japan — but that's not exactly unheard of when it comes to new releases.
As is often the case, the truth is probably caught between two extremes. "Final Fantasy 16 has done... fine. No, it hasn't sold the most ever of anything and no it isn't a sales failure. It's done fine," writes the ever-reliable Circana (previously NPD) analyst Mat Piscatella. "For some reason this has completely broken some fans' brains," he adds, referencing the aforementioned arguments across social media.
So, there you have it. Final Fantasy 16 has seemingly been a success for Square Enix, even if it's not the all-encompassing blockbuster that some people wanted it to be. Is that good enough for everyone? Until we get more sales data from Square Enix, we suppose it'll have to be.
[source twitter.com]
Comments 47
They need to make up their damn minds. Either it is or it isn’t.
Do they ever account for the large sum of money Sony gives them?
I'm fine with this. Nothing more, nothing less.
It's probably over 5 million by now and with the inevitable PC release next year, it will clear 10 million by the end of next year easily. Something I'm surprised they didn't do was to include a ff7 rebirth demo with it to increase sales even more
Sony need to buy square enix just to show them how to run they’re company correctly.
It'll have a long tail, as more PS5's sell more people will buy copies.
I’m absolutely loving it. Since I switched to graphics mode and left the jank behind it’s just superb!! 9/10 for me only because of the poor performance mode otherwise a 10/10
People will read this and still try to twist it as failing, all because it doesn’t fit their idea of what makes Final Fantasy, Final Fantasy.
Come off it already!
So basically, it sold good, they made their money back already and then some (thanks Sony), but foolishly expected FF7R numbers and are now doing the always weird Square PR games.
Rebirth is going to sell triple in its launch month and they'll probably start whining about the FF16 sales again lol
It shows you people at SE don't have a vision as a team. Before release Yoshi P said the sales of this game would be representative after a year because he knew the game wasn't for every fan, then it releases and some suit dude says the sales are good, then another suit dude says they aren't and is ps5 fault and now this. It starts to feel they don't know how to handle new stuff anymore if FF 14 or 7 isn't in the tittle.
Might have done better if it wasn't Final Fantasy in name only.
Also my thoughts on the game! With the balance of positives and negatives, it goes down as a ‘fine’. Similar to 15 for me in that respect.
We're still talking about this?
It is more than two weeks sold out in local store... still didn't have a chance to buy it.
@DennisReynolds Bahahahahahahaha! Good joke man, good joke.
@nessisonett Honestly same. The more I progress in the game, the more I feel like this.
So basically it sold pretty well just being on one platform, isn't even on ps4 like the FF7 remake was. There's still PC sales to come for this game as well.
Then there's the money from Sony's exclusivity deal, Square have most likely made a profit from this game already.
@General_Disarray
People will read this and still try to twist it as succeeding, all because it does fit their idea of what makes Final Fantasy, Final Fantasy.
Come off it already! 🙂
@Tecinthebrain yeah it’s just unintelligent and lazy when you say it.
Being rated M may have also hurt it a bit, and after playing through the entire game, it really didn’t need the M rating and the decision to make it rated M felt more edgelord than anything.
They made it M to make it M.
Fantastic game though
@DennisReynolds It’s FF in almaot everything other than being very RPGy. It was FF in the more important ways IMO.
@Mikey856 That's why I played in graphics mode from the very beginning. Usually I prefer performance mode but after I've heard that the framerate is constantly somewhere between 35-60fps I just decided to stick with an (almost) locked 30fps
@Jaz007 "Edgelordy" would be if they kept showing gore and kept dropping F bombs which they CLEARLY didn't. They wanted to tell a mature story and did it well with the heavy topics of slavery and war with showing how dangerous Eikons can be and how people who are bearers are treated as things to be used. That isn't edgelordy at all.
@Jaz007 What was that? A poor mans Devil May Cry mixed with QTE boss fights and an extremely linear world is not FF in my eyes.
I am not a turn based RPG fan, so this is the first FF game I’ve wanted to play in decades. I will buy it when it’s on sale for $50 as i am in no rush for it, but want to play it.
I thought that the game was glorious in places and a bit crap in others. Stopped playing around the 70% mark because the story just wasn't doing anything for me.
Gav's "Care to explain what the f**k your dog just did?" line is my favourite dialogue of the year though.
@mariomaster96 I totally agree and also the motion blur is so good that after a bit you hardly notice it’s 30 fps at all. Still hoping for a close as possible 60 though. It’s what I’m used to now 🤷♂️
Damn people really got a hate fetish with this game don't they? Let it go already. We get it. You don't like the direction it went in because it doesn't play like another Final Fantasy that came before you really liked.
Welcome to the Final Fantasy series. That's literally the hook of the series.
Just fine sounds about right, the game's just fine, boring combat, interesting story, nothing groundbreaking really.
@Nepp67 None of the gore was important or really needed for the story and they absolutely did keep dropping F bombs in the game. Many more than needed to be there.
None of what you said required an M rating, the Eikon scenes weren’t gorey and the heavy topics don’t make a game rated M. Much heavier things have been in T games.
In also said it being M was edgelordy, not the game in general itself being full of it.
Fine... Nothing more, nothing less. Exactly how I would describe the game itself.
I wonder if the industry is reaching a point where all games having the same look (ultrarealism) and feel (be a hero and save the open-world/action RPG) are reducing the long-term sales.
@MidnightDragonDX It is. You're confusing an earnings call with reality. It's always been fine. Problem when you walk into an earnings meeting is that you have to explain numbers differential between releases. "Why did this not sell as many as FF15?" "Will it sell as much as FF15?"
Then you're stuck with whether or not you want to throw anyone under the bus. Which when it comes to Hajime Tabata they absolutely should throw him under the bus. As that game hurt the FF brands reputation enough to impact FF16. Though he isn't the sole cause for not reach FF15 numbers. PS5's are selling extremely well, but it'll be a slow burn for people to pick up FF16, still have a ways to go. While Xbox sells a few million you can attribute the lack of that platform to be a source of woe, but any share holder will look at the distribution and see that its a very small impact on numbers. PC was a higher contributor than Xbox has ever been in its life time. Even this move for FF14 on Xbox Series is a pretty questionable move, as all it does is provide existing users with another platform to play on. I doubt any Xbox die hards are just screaming for a console version of a decade old game. That's FF14.
It's doing well. Dare I say very well. There isn't a PlayStation discussion with new users where FF16 isn't brought up as a must have game for their new PS5 when they get it. I'm sure we'll see fantastic numbers when the PC version of FF16 releases as well. Especially from those looking to play it on Steam Deck or its successor, as thoes who just want to double dip to have it on their PC like myself.
anyone else says its not doing well is just an xbox die hard trying to find reason to have fault with the game. To say "see not even playstation gamers want it" when the sales numbers clearly show the opposite.
Trust me we'll see this game have some legs which is why FF16 isn't selling for 40 or 30 bucks right now. Might see a Black Friday sale for it, but beyond that it'll spend most of its time at full price.
@Jaz007 the game had less edge than a pair of crayola safety scissors dude.
@Splat Nope. Because all that money usually goes right back into the development.
@4kgk2 Given how Naughty Dog is falling a part right now, struggling to get a new release out on PS5 over the last 3 years.... gonna go with no. Maybe if they move sony HQ back to Japan first and get away from the california stupid, we can see about a buy out.
Do I think Sony could market it more like they have with other games. Maybe. Like offer it in a bundled ps5 like horizon and god of war. That could have sold more in my opinion which are first party games I know.
But about the game. It’s a great game. Very underrated in my opinion in the gaming media. It is a masterpiece. It was great in many areas. I really enjoyed it.
@Jaz007 No they absolutely did not keep dropping F bombs and if they did it was absolutely rare. You're acting like the game was making characters cuss every 5 minutes when that clearly wasn't the case. The gore was to show how brutal and dark the game is which they have done well and sparsely and especially in the beginning. Sorry to say this but that's OK. If you want the game to be T rated because you don't like FF games to be M rated you could just say so.
I don't care too much about the business side of things but a commercial success usually means we will have more games, although that's not always true (see Elder Scrolls). I don't think the iconic's franchise future is in danger, specially cause the MMO is the only game that contested the GOAT WoW, but I just want more games, remakes and spin offs. Final Fantasy will always holds a special place in my heart
I mean... they can go and make DLC and sequels like they did with 13. The tech is there already and unlike 13, it's actually a good game.
I hope they get another internal studio helping though,cause i did not appreciate how it impacted the development of FFXIV content.
@Mintie thats my guess as well im banking they have most likely crossed the 5 mil threshhold by now
As the great Comrade Dyatlov once said about radiation.
“Not great, not terrible.”
And now I wonder- is it because of how stacked with releases this year has been... or because more people would have ordered a traditional, turn based approach, or one that used an ATB. 🤔
@4kgk2 their*
@DennisReynolds if you think that you haven’t really played it.
@Adol-Bannings Are you seriously replying to a nearly year old comment because it triggers you that much? 🤣🤣🤣
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