Square Enix has announced that Final Fantasy 16 sold over 3 million units worldwide. While this number doesn’t break any records, it still managed to take the fan base by surprise because of how different the title is to the rest of the series and the console it’s exclusively tied to.
Fans have been taken aback by the sales figures for Final Fantasy 16 because the game is currently a PlayStation 5 exclusive. Many expected it to sell poorly, given the smaller install base for the console, but that doesn’t seem to have harmed it much when compared to the launches of previous games in the series.
Related: Final Fantasy 16 Complete Game Guide – Stats, Quests, Characters & Eikons
Fans Are Surprised Final Fantasy 16’s Launch Sales Aren’t Too Dissimilar to Those of Previous Entries
It’s been officially confirmed that Final Fantasy 16 sold 3 million units worldwide at launch on PlayStation 5. This number consists of both physical and digital sales, according to publisher Square Enix. For some fans, 3 million is much higher than expected for the game because of the new direction it takes the Final Fantasy series in. It’s much more action focused and features colossal boss battles akin to those in God of War: Ragnarok, but it seems to appeal to a huge number of people nonetheless.
A discussion on the Games Subreddit contains comments from hundreds of fans pleasantly surprised by the sales figures. Many have even compared these sales to past games and found that it hasn’t performed poorly at all. One user explained, “IIRC, FF7 Remake sold 3.5mil in its first week. At that time the PS4’s install base was 100mil+. If so, then that’s really good, especially since the PS5’s install base is around 40mil.” As they point out, Final Fantasy 16 has performed rather well given the smaller install base of the PS5 and the point in the console generation it’s been released.
Other users have pulled in data from websites such as InstallBaseForum to show how the game’s sales compare to other releases outside of the Final Fantasy series. According to that data, Final Fantasy 16 sold just as many copies in 4 days as Pokemon: Let’s Go, Eevee! did in 3 days. Of course, the obvious comparison is Final Fantasy 15, which broke 5 million sales in a single day across PS4 and Xbox One. Regardless of how the numbers are viewed, most fans agree that they’re a decent start for a game that many expected to fall short as a Final Fantasy title. It’s possible that the demo helped reassure some fans by presenting gameplay early. With Sony’s exclusivity deal only set in stone for six months, it’s possible the game could see a rise in sales once it arrives on other platforms in the future.
