Support NeoGAF

[Danjin44]

I wanted to say I feel sorry for those who wanted this game to fail but who am I kidding, I have no sympathy for those type of people.

 

[Myths]

Good, let’s sell some more. The team has done a whole lot for SE.

 

[Kerotan]

Bro consistently had the first or second comment on those japan sales threads. It's like he wakes up every Thursday and just refreshes the site to post on that thread.

Tbf he's helped revive the popularity of these threads and brought people's attention to them again.

 

[Sakura]

Something to consider, the average revenue per unit sold is probably substantially higher in comparison to FFXV and FF7R due to the standard edition being priced higher. Then there's also the even pricier deluxe edition which albeit anecdotally seemed to have sold well.

Isn't the dollar worth a lot less than it was back then though?
60 bucks in 2016 is 76 bucks today.

 

[MagiusNecros]

Uh shipped does not equal sold.

Eh incorrect. Shipped would mean the units that a retailer purchased and is waiting to be received or has received. Units shipped and units sold are pretty much the same thing but with very slight differences.

What's disingenuous about the title and then the article is they say shipped here and sold on the article mixing in shipped units with digital sales which digital sales aren't physical units so it's rather confusing.

Furthermore earlier in the week media wanted to say physical sales were better then Diablo 4 which made a lot of money primarily through digital sales and not physical...which isn't saying much to make it look better then it actually is.

It's why I prefer cold hard total sell through numbers a month after launch since it comes off as a smoke and mirror show revolving around sales.

Sakura : Yes with inflation prices are higher because the dollar has decreased in value.

 

[mckmas8808]

Square Enix “panicking” about FFXVI sales be like:

I know right. Hopefully it sales over 5 million units by the end of the summer.

 

[ProtoByte]

3 million is a decent opening but given the timeline of FF15/FF7R/FF16 being 5m to 3.5m to 3m is more proof that overall the brand is crumbling.

I have to wonder if Square will make a statement on if FF16 met sales expectations like they did with Tomb Raider(which didn't even though it sold really well).

I'm curious on how much the game will sell in a month's time.

The brand isn't crumbling. This just has a different (lower imo) appeal than the last 2 games.

Imagine being a grown adult well into the 20s/30s, and still console warring.

Like it's SO fucking weird, and there's so many of them.

I don't like Jez, but he's not console warring there.

There is more controversy around the game than I would've guessed, because of the gameplay design. I don't think "to RPG or to not RPG" is a relevant question in the case of FF, but plenty of FF fans disagree.

 

[ProtoByte]

Lol. What about the 20m Xbox One installbase added to the 53m PS4s for XV?

And $60 MSRP Vs $70 for FF16?

Also marketing for XV was crazy back then.

The Xbox version sold just 21% of launch units in the UK. Worldwide, I'd bet it drops down to 10-15% max. Also, I would heavily disagree about the marketing point. FF16 has been marketed to hell and back. It's just not garnered as much interest as XV did.

 

[mckmas8808]

I find it interesting that now all of a sudden 3 million units sold in a week is now bad. Hmmm.....

 

[solidus12]

Imagine being a grown adult well into the 20s/30s, and still console warring.

Like it's SO fucking weird, and there's so many of them.

Yeah and they’re supposed to be unbiased journalists/reporters

 

[Sakura]

I find it interesting that now all of a sudden 3 million units sold in a week is now bad. Hmmm.....

It kind of depends on what SE was expecting here. One would imagine that a reason they moved away from turn based into an action game was to appeal to a larger audience, so you'd think they might have expected larger sales than previous FF titles, not lower.
On the other hand, the budget for this game might be lower than XV considering it was in development hell, and they got paid to make it a timed exclusive, so maybe they are totally happy with the results.

 

[GigaBowser]

I find it interesting that now all of a sudden 3 million units sold in a week is now bad. Hmmm.....

TOTK sold 10 millions in 3 days because of my OT FF used to be bigger than Zelda buuuuuuutt its still goods I am glad for this news thoughs we must support Japanese develorpers

 

[ProtoByte]

If it wasn't crumbling they wouldn't feel the need to shift the genre from RPG to Spectacle Fighter Action game. Likewise it sold less then FF7R opening week. Brand is diluted partially because of the shift in gameplay but also because of the big divide in the fanbase but also appealing to a broader more casual audience and leaving the older audience with mixed views.

The best FF games have been spinoffs and FFXIV which collects most of it's money in subscriptions and cash shop purchases.

I'll agree jn the sense that people are divided. They're only divided though, because each game since X or XII (depending on your standards) has been deeply flawed to the point of inherently inviting controversy anyway. I don't think it has to do with them changing things up, in or of itself. Even if I do believe making this a character action game in all but name will wind up capping its performance.

 

[DeaDPo0L84]

Will buy day 1 on PC when it inevitably launches. Are there any specifics to how long Playstation exclusivity is?

 

[TheTony316]

Well deserved. The best singleplayer FF since X.

 

[Square2015]

Shipped to retailers (sell-in) does not mean sold through to customers.

 

[TheTony316]

A recently banned poster will be very displeased with this.

PS5 sales are tanking in Japan!

 

[mopspear]

Damn, all that review bombing and fud throwing in threads and it still cracked 3 mil on a single console easy.

Haters reading this news like:

Yes, they are snakes.

 

[xiskza]

SE: we're happy with the results

Bots and Drones: no you're not!

 

[Astray]

I had a feeling this would sell like hotcakes even when Square were "panicking slightly" or whatever the fuck that hack wrote.

My feeling was confirmed when Microsoft whined about it being exclusive over and over during their FTC court sessions.

Can't wait to get home from my travel and play the game!

 

[phant0m]

Isn't the dollar worth a lot less than it was back then though?
60 bucks in 2016 is 76 bucks today.

People still refuse to accept basic economics and whine about $70 games

 

[Raonak]

Good stuff, best FF game since 10

 

[rofif]

Considering it’s ps5 only and people disliked ff xv, it’sa good result.

 

[Flabagast]

Very well deserved for the very first true next gen game since the launch of the new consoles.

I bet it will have very strong legs, it’s spectacular

 

[dEvAnGeL]

The only bad thing about this game is the awful motion blur. Overall game is pretty great.

 

[Komatsu]

I remain convinced this matters more for Sony's eventual acquisition than for Square's stockholders.

SCE held a significant stake in Square (then Square-Enix) for most of the 2000s. It had a 8.2% stake as late as 2014, when they proceeded to sell off all their shares. They are not buying Square-Enix.

 

[Mr Moose]

The only bad thing about this game is the awful motion blur. Overall game is pretty great.

I actually don't think the motion blur is bad, I don't like the DoF in cutscenes though, especially near hair and the ghosting effect of the AA like a Far Cry game. And clouds, they are blocky as fuck. Really good game so far though, I just fucked up Odin I think.

 

[John Wick]

Deserves every sale it gets, it’s a great game regardless of what people think a Final Fantasy should be or not.

If the game had been called anything else it would be swimming in 10s.

It would easily be a 90+ rated game if it wasn't for woke like agendas.

 

[John Wick]

The moneyhat has to be be much more than 50 million, that's just a couple of 100k Xbox copies and we don't even talk about pc/GwG/GP. But Sony doesn't have to make money with the game directly. They wanted it to sell consoles + 3rd party games + subs.

We don't know how much it is. It could be an individual deal or a group of games. Pulling numbers out of thin air won't matter much.

 

[ergem]

Now its time to make FF17 and future FF on the Decima engine.

SE’s engine is not up to par sadly. Choosing between Decima and UE5 would do them good.

 

[Same ol G]

Sad to see but FF is not the same anymore.
I didn't realize that 3 mil for a mainline FF is amazing sounds pretty shitty to me

 

[Ar¢tos]

Will buy day 1 on PC when it inevitably launches. Are there any specifics to how long Playstation exclusivity is?

6 months, but Square already warned that it will take them longer than that to get the pc port out.

 

[Guilty_AI]

If the game had been called anything else it would be swimming in 10s.

Lets be real here, if this was called anything else, more than half of the people who played it wouldn't have given it the time of the day.

Not to mention most outlets would feel no obligation to give it higher scores due to hype factor, probably would've gotten lots more 7s and 8s.

 

[Panajev2001a]

Sad to see but FF is not the same anymore.
I didn't realize that 3 mil for a mainline FF is amazing sounds pretty shitty to me

In a week on a single next gen platform. Mate…

 

[mckmas8808]

TOTK sold 10 millions in 3 days because of my OT FF used to be bigger than Zelda buuuuuuutt its still goods I am glad for this news thoughs we must support Japanese develorpers

Why the need to compare it to TOTK? We got it! That game sold bananas. It doesn't change how well FF XVI has sold though.

It would easily be a 90+ rated game if it wasn't for woke like agendas.

Relax. It's a 88 Metacritic rated game. That's AMAZING! Don't let 2 points upset you.

 

[Fatal Chuck Yeager]

This doesn't tell us much, this happened with FFR too. Then after a long time with no news, a very long time, it ended up over 5M so sales at some point caved.

Let's see where this will be some months from now.

 

[Same ol G]

In a week on a single next gen platform. Mate…

Still not impressive, FF was bigger that this.
Seeing Japan fist week sales is shameful.
Also TOTK did 10 mil in 3 days, i didn't expect 10 mil but at least 5.

 

[UnNamed]

2001: FFX sold 1M copies worldwide in few weeks, incredible result.

2023:FFXVI has sold 3M copies, will not reach the break-even until 7M, SE is panicking.

 

[Ar¢tos]

Still not impressive, FF was bigger that this.
Seeing Japan fist week sales is shameful.
Also TOTK did 10 mil in 3 days, i didn't expect 10 mil but at least 5.

Why are you comparing FF (or any game) to Zelda?
Having Zelda on the title will highly inflate review scores and sales numbers of any game.

 

[Same ol G]

Why are you comparing FF (or any game) to Zelda?
Having Zelda on the title will highly inflate review scores and sales numbers of any game.

This is such a weak excuse, go look up historical sales of zelda and FF a lot has changed for both franchises in the past few entries.

 

[West Texas CEO]

Only 15 million PS5 have been sold. So, 3 mil shipped is a pretty impressive number.

 

[nowhat]

Only 15 million PS5 have been sold.

...what?

 

[West Texas CEO]

...what?

Can you come up with a better number, because I'm looking at vgchartz.

 

[nowhat]

Can you come up with a better number, because I'm looking at vgchartz.

First, vgchartz, lol.

Second, google "PS5 sales", among the first links: https://www.theverge.com/2023/4/28/23702131/sony-ps5-q4-2022-console-sales-game-shipments

...and if you're going for "shipped, not sold", don't, they keep flying off the shelves.

 

[Ar¢tos]

This is such a weak excuse, go look up historical sales of zelda and FF a lot has changed for both franchises in the past few entries.

Yes, it's very surprising that the sales of Zelda on a Zelda-Mario-Pokemon-indies machine are high.
I'm really shocked!

There is a lot more AAA competition on PS5 than on Switch.

 

[Sakura]

2001: FFX sold 1M copies worldwide in few weeks, incredible result.

2023:FFXVI has sold 3M copies, will not reach the break-even until 7M, SE is panicking.

FFX sold around 2 million units in its first week in Japan alone. Also, it didn't even have a worldwide release, so no idea what you are talking about.

Why are you comparing FF (or any game) to Zelda?
Having Zelda on the title will highly inflate review scores and sales numbers of any game.

Except Zelda games before BotW didn't do those kinds of numbers. Skyward Sword only did around 3 million in its first 5 months.

 

[JimmyRustler]

I think the 3 million are just fine for the first week. Considering how smooth the development was I don’t think it was anywhere as expensive for SE as 15 or 7R.

 

[Same ol G]

Yes, it's very surprising that the sales of Zelda on a Zelda-Mario-Pokemon-indies machine are high.
I'm really shocked!

There is a lot more AAA competition on PS5 than on Switch.

Yeah i'm done Switch doesn't have any good games that's why everyone has to buy Zelda at gunpoint........

 

[KungFucius]

Can someone explain this to me? Amazon is "sold out" of this game. You can buy it with a ship date of late mid July. Are they conceding the market for physical games post release to places that also have a retail presence like Walmart, Best Buy and Target? I get that most sales are moving to digital, but to throw in the towel like this for hot games in the weeks after launch is pathetic.

I originally had it preordered from Amazon and cancelled because I was busy and figured I would wait to make sure I could play it.

 

[Perfo]

Can someone explain this to me? Amazon is "sold out" of this game. You can buy it with a ship date of late mid July. Are they conceding the market for physical games post release to places that also have a retail presence like Walmart, Best Buy and Target? I get that most sales are moving to digital, but to throw in the towel like this for hot games in the weeks after launch is pathetic.

I originally had it preordered from Amazon and cancelled because I was busy and figured I would wait to make sure I could play it.

It might be it's selling more than predicted and they can't keep up with the tiny stock they imagined?