Final Fantasy 15 launched in Japan (as in the rest of the world) last week, and it managed to sell almost 700,000 copies, with 690,471 copies being reported as sold by Media Create. It was, far and away, the highest selling game in Japan last week, with the next game on the charts selling just about a third of Final Fantasy 15‘s totals. It even caused PS4 sales to spike, with 118,000 PS4 consoles sold.
And yet, it represents a dismal result for Square Enix- 690,000 copies is under half of what Final Fantasy 13 sold in Japan six years ago on debut, on a roughly equivalent install base, and more importantly, represents the single worst debut for the franchise in Japan since Final Fantasy 5, all the way back on the Super Famicom. And that PS4 bump? Doesn’t compare to the PS3 sales in the week of Final Fantasy 13‘s release, which were over 237,000.
So while Final Fantasy 15 did well, the overall result in context is disappointing, and represents another bit of evidence in the worrying trend of the console market declining and shrinking rapidly in Japan. Square Enix have already had a few high profile console flops in Japan this year – most notably Star Ocean 5 – and they are now doubtless spooked about the upcoming Dragon Quest 11, too.
[Media Create via NeoGAF]
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