600°

Final Fantasy 16 UK Retail Launch Sales 74 Percent Lower Than FF15

Sales figures have revealed that Final Fantasy 16 is the UK's best-selling retail release this week, although its launch sales are reportedly 74 percent lower than that of Final Fantasy 15.

After two years since its reveal, this week marked the long-awaited launch of Final Fantasy 16. While critical reception for the game has been largely positive so far, it seems that it might not have made as much of a splash as Square Enix would have hoped when it comes to the game's sales, at least when it comes to physical retail releases in the UK.

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thegamer.com
Battlestar23494d ago (Edited 494d ago )

15 launched on PS4, XBOX One and later on PC and FF16 launched only on PS5 so of course sales are lower. The same will happen with Starfield it's sales numbers will be lower than the likes of Fallout 4 because it's only launching on XS and PC and being on Gamepass day 1 will hurt actual game sales too.

Sonic1881494d ago (Edited 494d ago )

Gamepass is going to hit overall sales big time and that's a guarantee but Microsoft already know that. They're trying to get more subscribers for long term. As for Final Fantasy 16 it's going to be a marathon until every PS4 owner upgrades to a PS5. FF16 is also going to PC eventually to help boost sales. Let's not forget this isn't digital sales

4Sh0w494d ago (Edited 494d ago )

Down 74% man that's alot because let's face it Xbox & PC sales for this game typically aren't huge.

The BIG caveat is this doesn't include digital, so as far as we know it's only a big drop in physical sales and we know digital has grown leaps & bounds over the last few years= Im pretty sure the digital sales are pretty good, hopefully because I really dont want to hear SE cry about it.

Babadook7494d ago (Edited 494d ago )

It’s only on one platform and that platform had fewer units than ps4.

piroh494d ago

Now are digital sales way more popular than it was when ff15 launched, less people buying retail now

phoenixwing493d ago

@sonic
I doubt se is going to cry about it when Sony wrote them a check

blackbeld493d ago (Edited 493d ago )

To many great games this month. I just bought SF6 so FF16 have to wait till next month. Cause I promised myself 1 game each month.

+ Show (2) more repliesLast reply 493d ago
Seraphim493d ago (Edited 493d ago )

According to the last sentence in the preview, this is box sales only so hardly a surprise. A lot has changed between the release of XV and XVI in terms of digital vs physical. I could be mistaken but I believe the EU has adopted digital more than the US, and even then, digital is gaining traction everywhere... just a quick google search, 64% of all sales were digital in '22, down from 65% the year prior according to gameindustry.biz. I don't know what the numbers were when XV released, but if 64% of sales are digital, and XVI sold 74% less physical copies, you do the math...

I've always been a physical collector, but even I have found cause to just start buying more and more games digitally. Let's talk when total numbers are in. Until then, this seems more like a hit piece or, at the very least, a very stupid article written by someone looking to spin it. Because let's be real here, there are always more than variable to consider, and from the looks of it, they simply took one variable and ran with it because that variable must be bad.

Obscure_Observer493d ago (Edited 493d ago )

"15 launched on PS4, XBOX One and later on PC and FF16 launched only on PS5 so of course sales are lower."

FFXVI exclusive on PS5 sold just 1/4 of copies compared to FFXV, no matter how you try to spin, the numbers are far from great.

Making such huge title exclusive to Playstation might turn out into another disappointment for SE. Hopefully digital sales will perform better than retail. We shall see soon enough.

"The same will happen with Starfield it's sales numbers will be lower than the likes of Fallout 4 because it's only launching on XS and PC and being on Gamepass day 1 will hurt actual game sales too."

Starfield is an Xbox first party games, no matter how many copies it sells, it´s still Microsoft´s money.

If FFXVI don't meet sales expectations, Square Enix will be the only one who will suffer with the losses of tons of money invested in that game.

purple101493d ago

@ obscureobserver

"The same will happen with Starfield it's sales numbers will be lower than the likes of Fallout 4 because it's only launching on XS and PC and being on Gamepass day 1 will hurt actual game sales too."

How many do you think it will sell at $70?

shinoff2183493d ago

Se aren't going to be missing many sales from xbox , ie ff15 numbers. This article specifically mentions this is physical sales, you know damn well digital is bigger today then it was when ff15 first released. Leave it to obscure for the neg Sony comment

Zhipp493d ago

That's still a huge difference in sales. I feel like Xbox even in the UK would have accounted for only around 25% of FF15 sales surely.

shinoff2183493d ago

Xbox didn't even account for that percentage of sales of ff15.

Over 10 million sold 1 mill on xbox for ff15.

-Foxtrot493d ago

It's not even that really

After FF13 people gave them a second chance with FF15

They blew it

So while this is a good game and BETTER than 13/15 most people might just feel they don't want to get burnt again.

shinoff2183493d ago

The 2nd paragraph makes a good a good point that should've been in the headline. Atleast the physical sales. I prefer physical games myself but it seems more and more buy digital these day.

2nd starfield sales won't be that good do to gamepass. I'll be playing on gamepass.

CDbiggen493d ago

I'd have bought it day 1 on PC

+ Show (4) more repliesLast reply 493d ago
-Mika-494d ago

I made a comment a month or two ago saying that Square limiting its IP to one platform is going to hurt the growth of the FF brand. Now look.

Battlestar23494d ago (Edited 494d ago )

Given that FF15 sold only like 9% on Xbox and 80% on PS4 with 11% on PC making FF16 multi woudn't result in much of an increase in sales also Game sales in the UK are different since a few years ago with 90% of game sales now in the UK being mostly digital. https://www.ign.com/article...

lelo2play494d ago (Edited 494d ago )

Where did you get those percentages for Playstation, Xbox and PC sales of FF15?

-Mika-494d ago

It doesn't matter. It still did not sell well. First, Playstation gamers prefer to buy boxed games. Second, It being 74% lower than 15 sales is bad. That is a very sharp difference. There is no spin on this to make this look good. When they release the digital sales numbers, we get our confirmation.

Obscure_Observer493d ago

@lelo2play

"Where did you get those percentages for Playstation, Xbox and PC sales of FF15?"

He made that up.

tay8701493d ago

@mika where did you get the idea most playstation gamers prefer boxed games, not true.
Playstation are the leaders for digital game sales and have been for a while.

Eonjay493d ago

@Mika
I purchased 15 physical years ago... but I got 16 digitally. I didn't know that I had to buy physical simply because I have a PlayStation. Your just making stuff up.

493d ago
shinoff2183493d ago (Edited 493d ago )

Lelo the numbers are out there

Taylor of course Sony is the leaders in digital. It's common sense with the bigger install base.

+ Show (4) more repliesLast reply 493d ago
Redemption-64494d ago

They are not limiting themselves, this is just physical and even did better than Diablo 4. Using your logic was Diablo 4 growth hurt because it performed worst than FF16 with physical? The answer is No

-Mika-494d ago

First off, A lot of gamers bought Diablo 4 on digital because they got to play it 4 days early. FF16 did not have any digital advantage over physical. You can't use that as an excuse here.

neutralgamer1992494d ago (Edited 494d ago )

Mika

Actually you can connect the dots because now a days AAA games get 70-75% of their sales in digital so if it’s not the best selling game on PSN we will have something to discuss

And they aren’t limiting anything. It’s the worst kept secret that Sony and square have a deal in place so as soon as ABK deal is done Sony will announce the acquisition

Omegasyde493d ago

@Neutral
I highly doubt Sony will purchase Squareenix, maybe another smaller studio or even an IP. I still think they overpaid for Bungie over estimating their GAAS evaluation.

Redemption-64493d ago

@Mika

FF16 did not have any digital advantage over physical.

Actually if you are old enough, you would actually know, about 70-80% of all games sold on Playstation are digital. But we can ignore that fact if it makes you feel better. We can also ignore the fact that, the whole industry has shifted towards more digital and millions of Playstation owners got a PS5 digital version.

So guess we can't point out excuses, such as, more people are buying digital over physical, compared to 8-10 years go or a good percentage of PS5 owners have a digital version. Yeah, just excuses.

DEEHULK88493d ago

FF is a bigger Franchise than Diablo, so that's not a good comparison. I mean it probably do better than a lot of other multiplats that have a smaller fantasy as well like Dead Island 2.

+ Show (2) more repliesLast reply 493d ago
Jin_Sakai494d ago (Edited 494d ago )

“I made a comment a month or two ago saying that Square limiting its IP to one platform is going to hurt the growth of the FF brand. Now look.”

Digital sales aren’t included yet.

Redemption-64493d ago

The ignorance of you bots truly transcends time itself. Final Fantasy 15 released as a multi-platform game and that game sold about 80% on Playstation alone in the UK and only sold about 20% on Xbox. That game is estimated to have sold about 10M and that same estimated has Xbox sales at around 1.4M. What growth exactly is Square missing with such laughable numbers from Xbox? Significant amount of their base are on PS and Nintendo. They are not missing anything when you consider hiw bad the last game sold on Xbox. Apart from Forza and Halo, how many Xbox games even make it to their chats?

As Square stated, they approached numerous platforms holders, Sony gave them the better offer. Just like with Marvel and Genshin Impact

randomvoice494d ago (Edited 494d ago )

LMAO these are physical sales only and it sold more than Diablo 4 physical sales. Everyone knows most sales nowadays are digital.

Xbox fanboys talk a lot of shit about exclusives but when FF showed up on Xbox, it literally sold less than 10% off the overall sales. Seems like all the moaning and bitching about exclusives doesn't really results in sales on Xbox. Put your money where your mouth is and maybe you'll get more 3rd party games on it.

MrNinosan494d ago

It didn't, the article is just making you believe so.

FFXV released on a Tuesday during Black Week
Ofc a full week of sales during Black Week will be more than 1/2 days of sale in the summer.

If this game was also released on Xbox, it'd be a maximum of 5-10% extra in sales, buy to the cost of quality of the game.

k2d493d ago (Edited 493d ago )

I speak from first hand knowledge when I say that casuals are afraid of going into FF due to the numeral titling..

They're alianating a lot of players by also going full action game, rating M, and being PS5 only.

One can hope that they'll have long and healthy tail of sales.

I did not buy the XIII compilation due to XIII and I bought XV on sale due to my impressions from the demo. I'm currently on the fence with XVI. 7 Remake Day 1.

+ Show (3) more repliesLast reply 493d ago
CrimsonWing69494d ago

So how about digital sales? Do most people
Realize digital sales trump physical?

It’s number 1 in the UK so that accounts for something. What about in the US and Japan market? Again collectively with digital and physical?

luckytrouble494d ago

It's basically the problem with modern numbers reporting. You don't get digital sales until the publisher reveals numbers directly, and that often only happens at end of fiscal year shareholder meetings as far as when the general public gets to see the numbers. Physical still plays a major role, but that role strongly differs across markets. So while this article sounds doom and gloom for FF16, we don't have any concrete idea of the actual numbers it's doing right now.

badz149493d ago

No no no you don't get it. Digital only matters when talking about Xbox version sales. With PS, they like to pretend that digital is negligible.

Don't trust me? Just go back to articles about sales of multiplat games when the PS is doing 2X or 3X the xbox numbers and see how quickly the "xbox sold more digitally" statement came up.

yarbie1000494d ago

Theres also only 2 days of data as well as what others have mentioned that this is comparing a multi platform. The game is one of the greatest I’ve played. Ignore the review bombing and fud about sales. It’s excellent

StarkR3ality494d ago

It's a good game, nothing special though, think it's getting overrated due to it being a PS exclusive, still a solid 8/10 though.

P_Bomb494d ago (Edited 494d ago )

Maybe finish it before falling on conspiracy theories?

randomvoice494d ago (Edited 494d ago )

LMAO yeah sure bud. Whatever makes you sleep at night. It is still the highest rated exclusive this year in-between Xbox and PlayStation. So far, it is easily in the top 3 FF games I've played. Watch the same hermits run out with their pitchforks if Starfield gets a 7 when someone calls it overrated.

StarkR3ality494d ago

When did 8/10 become a bad score? I'm enjoying my time with it, but I don't think it's as good as 7 Remake because it's not a final fantasy game.

Pathetic cunts 😂

P_Bomb494d ago (Edited 494d ago )

“When did 8/10 become a bad score? ”

I have no qualm with your score.

“Pathetic c***s”

🤪
https://media1.giphy.com/me...

MrNinosan494d ago

It's getting underrated, due to not being on Xbox

GamingSinceForever493d ago

Forspoken, a game by the same publisher, was also a PS5 exclusive and it was not overrated. FF16 is just a great game period.

--Onilink--493d ago

@randomvoice

Isn’t it basically tied with Hi-Fi Rush though? Not that I see how either of them having “the highest” score has to do with him saying its an 8 (which is not a bad score by any means)

CrimsonWing69493d ago

I wouldn’t say “nothing special,” I mean if that’s your take you clearly didn’t get to the Bahamut bit. That had my jaw hit the floor and stuck out to me as one of the coolest fights in any game, period.

+ Show (5) more repliesLast reply 493d ago
shadowT494d ago (Edited 494d ago )

And it is not even the original Source gamesindustry.biz. I am wondering how this news got approved on n4g.

However:

"Final Fantasy 16’s UK physical launch was bigger than Diablo 4’s and Dead Island 2’s, so I really wouldn’t conclude anything from the boxed figures. It sits behind Resident Evil 4, Star Wars, Hogwarts and Zelda in terms of week 1 boxed sales."

VersusDMC494d ago

I wonder if they will mention that FFXV came out on a tues and FFXVI came out on Thursday so there is a shorter first week for FFXVI. Surely a journalist would mention that?

shadowknight203494d ago (Edited 494d ago )

Thats hilarious if your serious about that being a journalism standard. I'm not saying that it shouldn't be, IT SOOOO SHOULD BE but in recent memory, that certainly hasn't been the case. And I'm speaking as a whole of journalism.

Show all comments (99)
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170°

Call of Duty Development Process Won't Change Under Microsoft;15 Studios Still Working on Franchise

Call of Duty’s development process will stay the same under Microsoft’s ownership, with no planned changes to its structure.

RaidenBlack8h ago

Now EA's following suit as well in order to compete with this CoD of a juggernaut sort of head 2 head ...
i.e employing 4+ studios for the next Battlefield game.
DICE for multiplayer, Criterion Games for single player/MP, Motive for single player, Ripple Effect for a "new experience".

Mr Pumblechook5h ago

Respect to Phil Spencer, it's because of his direct influence that Rossi was introduced.

RaidenBlack5h ago(Edited 5h ago)

And here I am just asking for a new Soldier of Fortune or Heretic ... but guess CoD even engulfed a whole studio for just gun trinkets

MetroidFREAK217h ago

I'm so glad I got out of the CoD hell hole

Eonjay7h ago

Thats... a lot of teams. That's why it's so hard to compete with COD. It's also why PlayStation is so vital to Xbox now. That's a lot of people who need to be paid.

Obscure_Observer5h ago

Playstation is just another revenue stream out of many. They´re important of course, but I think PC, Mobile, and Cloud are even more important.

i´m also curious to see how COD will perform on Nintendo Switch 2 after all those years that ABK has been snubbing them. Thanks to Xbox they´ll finally be able to play those games again.

Eonjay5h ago

Right Switch 2 (one assumes that COD really isn't going to run on Switch) when it launches will take a few years to build up a sizable audience. One imagines that that can help offset some of the sales lost on Xbox. But as you probably already know, PlayStation has been the biggest platform for COD sales by quite a margin for quite a while. Its not 'just another revenue stream'... its THE revenue stream (as far as Call of Duty). I really wouldn't expect that to change anythime soon. Also, remember when it comes to COD we are counting PS4 and PS5.

As far as Switch goes, the only way in hell I'm gonna even try to play it there is on one of the Pro controllers. The idea of trying to use the joy cons or the handheld itself is already making my hand hurt.

FPS_D3TH7h ago(Edited 7h ago)

15 studios is A LOT. That’s honestly insane. I thought 3 or 4 was kind of crazy but I suppose it took 3 years for 4 or 5 of studios to make the last one and if they’re coming out yearly still then maybe it’s still just 5 studios per release. I’d imagine 15 studios managing one single game would be far too complicated with way too many cooks.

dveio6h ago

Could be a good opportunity maybe for EA and SIE to start a collaboration with Battlefield.

5h agoReplies(1)
Johnh52234h ago

Sony couldve created there own with socom but there on a live service Bump crash then bump again.

Ninver2h ago

They need to bring brack Medal of Honor or remake Frontlines!

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If this ends up being rated anything but R ..