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[Oberstein]

Mod edit: The original article (https://kabutan.jp/news/marketnews/?b=n202503130535) was updated with the following excerpt:

Toyo Securities estimates that "Final Fantasy XVI" has already sold over 3.5 million copies.

(*The original article stated that the number of copies of "Final Fantasy XVI" was stated by Square Enix HD's President Takashi Kiryu at the financial results briefing, but this was based on Toyo Securities' own estimate and was an incorrect statement by the author. We apologize for the correction.)

"FINAL FANTASY XVI" released in June of the 23rd seems to be more than three and a half million copies at the moment (Squeeni HD, President of Skueni HD, President Ryuji Kiryu at the Financial Results Briefing).

安田秀樹【半導体からゲームセクターに投資資金がシフト！ その背景とは？】（訂正） | 特集 - 株探ニュース

●ゲームセクター投資の魅力はボラティリティの高さ　今月はゲームセクター の決算について取り上げたい。まず、コーエーテクモホールディングス ＜３６３５＞、カプコン ＜９６９７＞は２０２５年３月期第３四半期は大幅な減収減益だった・・・。

kabutan.jp

To fully grasp the disaster, SE announced 3 million units (likely distributed) just 4 days after its release. There have been no further announcements since then.

So, despite price drops and the Steam release, it's estimated that only an additional 500,000 units were sold, bringing the total to 3.5 million.

 

[NotMyProblemAnymoreCunt]

 

[Hookshot]

Should have stuck with cartridges.

 

[spons]

Somewhat undeserved.

 

[RoboFu]

 

[Pedro Motta]

Great action game., not a Final Fantasy.

 

[Seomel]

What was the budget? Square Enix is notorious about having insane expectations + sony i believe gave them some funding and marketed it, so im not sure how SE can still complain
Edit: looks by Google budget is around 59m which is not too bad

 

[violence]

 

[RetroGamingUK]

My least favourite FF game. An action game with no personality.

 

[PanzerCute]

Yeah I dont believe these numbers sorry.

 

[Brock2621]

Not a traditional FF game but had a good story. I thoroughly enjoyed it

 

[HRK69]

They should be really happy with 3.5 million units

At least this gives me the perfect excuse to share this incredible track from the game:

 

[Elios83]

There is no news here, the article is just stating that there have been no updates after the 3.5m sold at launch.

 

[POKEYCLYDE]

Bring back 9's aesthetic and my life is yours Square Enix.

But seriously, the hyper realism is meh to me. Bring back the whimsy, the creativity, the fantasy of it all.

 

[LordOcidax]

Make Final Fantasy games turn based again.

 

[Chukhopops]

If it's really 3 million in the first weekend and 3.5 two years later, after the port and DLC, then that tells you everything you need to know about this game's reception, quality and word of mouth.

 

[Mister Wolf]

Imagine if Clair Obscure ends up selling more than it. Would really drive home the point that Square has fallen off.

 

[Mownoc]

Yeah no... Lmao. They shipped 3m for PS5 at launch, they've sold over 289k on Steam. That leaves just 211k for 1.5 years of shipments and digital sales on PS5 after launch. You have to be braindead to think this is an accurate estimation, and they're not saying it is.

 

[Spiral1407]

It should have been an actual turn based JRPG. Why would anyone want to play DMC at home when DMC already exists?

 

[Punished Miku]

All part of Yoshida's plan to get out of executive management. Brilliant move.

 

[CliffBronger]

Should have stuck with turn-based.

 

[Scrawnton]

Good. Course correct the series you out of touch idiots.

 

[Spukc]

it should have been bossfights only game.. everything else was mindnumbingly boring

 

[808mate]

It wasn't what I wanted from a Final Fantasy game.

A lot of other folk obviously felt the same.

 

[DeltaPolarBear]

It should have been an actual turn based JRPG. Why would anyone want to play DMC at home when DMC already exists?

Yep.

What makes "Final Fantasy" FF? It needs to be treated like the final game you ever get to make.

When it is just an action game you are competing with other action games. Quick time events can get lost. Hell, even an action game like Black Myth Wukong didn't have any quicktime events.

 

[Schmendrick]

That game was 80% filler of the absolutely lowest quality.
Not surprised.

 

[Mownoc]

Translating the webpage gives me different information to what it says in Japanese translated piece by piece. The one in Japanese mentions FFXVI, the full webpage translated is talking about life is strange instead. I am unsure which article is correct as they apparently updated the text at some point as it has "(correction)" in the title.

 

[DiscoDave]

It was a good game, but as people have said, I just dont feel like its an FF game. I kinda wish they would go diablo style kinda view and go OTT with magic effects and colors and so on. They just don't feel like fantasy games lately, obviously back to turn based aswell.

 

[lifa-cobex]

This is the only mainline FF game I haven't played.
Grew up on the PSX/PS2 games and loved them.

FF16 just looked like a generic D&D action game.

FF15 lost it to me. It had it's merits but the overall experience was severely lacking as a game.
FF13 was a terrible experience.

FF games are not the FF games I remember.

 

[ArtHands]

Turns out Takashi Mochizuki is right (with this and PSVR2)

 

[Melfice7]

Final Fantasy game in name only, had 3 million sales too many

 

[Zuzu]

I think 3.5 million is acceptable for the quality of the game. Obviously it's not acceptable for Square's sales goals but the majority of people seem to feel it was an average to good game rather than a great one. A fairly good game sold pretty well. That's reasonable. They didn't make a game that was good enough to sell more. That's their fault.

Also, I predict Expedition 33 will outsell FF16. I might be totally wrong, but there feels like there's a strong current of positivity for that game and I think it could have a lot of success. Especially with its cheaper price.

 

[Impotaku]

Maybe it's time for final fantasy to live upto it's title, and be final.

 

[Diddy X]

Another failed attempt to go action-oriented, when will they learn

 

[Tiago Rodrigues]

So the game sold 3M copies in like a few days and only 500k over the next 2 years plus a PC release? I call bullshit. Also " seems to be more than three and a half million copies" doesn't really mean "it sold 3.5 million copies". Just that it's above the original PR statement that's all.

Another failed attempt to go action-oriented, when will they learn

I mean...Final Fantasy XV sold over 10M copies. Sounds like their thought wasn't that wrong at first.

 

[ChuckeRearmed]

So it is basically the standard JRPG - heavily front loaded.

Another failed attempt to go action-oriented, when will they learn

FF7R P2 did not sell better much better if at all.

 

[Skifi28]

The only thing that can save the game now is an Xbox port.

 

[Diddy X]

So the game sold 3M copies in like a few days and only 500k over the next 2 years plus a PC release? I call bullshit. Also " seems to be more than three and a half million copies" doesn't really mean "it sold 3.5 million copies". Just that it's above the original PR statement that's all.

I mean...Final Fantasy XV sold over 10M copies. Sounds like their thought wasn't that wrong at first.

Typically, it's not the first version with a significant style change that experiences the most dramatic drop in sales. Instead, it's the second version that bears the brunt, once people have already realized they don't like the new direction.

 

[pulicat]

A prime example of over shipment

Launch day 3 million units shipped in 4 days and only managed to push a little bit over 500k after nearly 2 years on the market.

Meanwhile Resident Evil 4 remake released on the same year as FF XVI
Shipment data
2 days - 3 million units
Currently - 9.2 million units

 

[hemo memo]

Devil Fantasy: Final May Cry.

 

[BennyBlanco]

Skill issue. Make better games and stop insulting your long time fans with second rate character action games in a JRPG series.

 

[Mibu no ookami]

• First of all, should have been turn based, had it been turn based I would have purchased at full price
• Second, put out a PS5 Pro patch and I'd actually consider buying it at a discount

Square Enix is a terribly mismanaged company.

 

[Sooner]

Great action game., not a Final Fantasy.

Yup. At least not a mainline one.

Is this just physical?

 

[Susurrus]

I love the Final Fantasy series and have completed every numbered game (1-16) as well as several spin offs/sequels. Got the FF16 Dualsense from Japan (it conveniently came out right before I visited, so had family hold it for me). Preordered with steelbook, was super pumped it looked great. Played it soon after release.

I mean I finished it. I did the side quests. But I was super disappointed. The DLC never went on sale and I'm not interested in paying full price for it, so have yet to play it, and at this point I have given up because I don't remember how to even play it. My copy is on eBay but no takers for a while.

The game was beautiful. But that was the only thing it had going for it.

 

[moogman]

The figures make no sense with the estimate on PC alone to be around 500,000 to 600,000 now.

 

[majestix1988]

PC owners:, it will be saved by releasing it on PC but instead the sales fails oh typical "PC" master race agenda thinking PC market is best selling place for games with time exclusive issue

 

[Astray]

Yeah I dont believe these numbers sorry.

If they come from the CEO then you have to for now. He could get sued if he doesn't choose his words and disclosures carefully.

• First of all, should have been turn based, had it been turn based I would have purchased at full price
• Second, put out a PS5 Pro patch and I'd actually consider buying it at a discount

Square Enix is a terribly mismanaged company.

Insane to me that over %75 of this game's sales are on PS5, but there's no PS5 Pro patch.

Even funnier that Yoshida kept taking photo ops with Spencer and Sarah Bond.. And still no Xbox port.

Such an incredibly mismanaged project.

The figures make no sense with the estimate on PC alone to be around 500,000 to 600,000 now.

Estimates can be wildly inaccurate at times depending on the modelling used.

 

[moogman]

Estimates can be wildly inaccurate at times depending on the modelling used.

Agreed, but that's an average of the various estimates though not the highest and that tends to be pretty accurate.

 

[Astray]

Agreed, but that's an average of the various estimates though not the highest and that tends to be pretty accurate.

If all the estimate inputs are wrong then the average will also be wrong.

Garbage in, garbage out - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[Dacvak]

If 3.5m is a financial failure then the dev costs were way too high.