Final Fantasy 16’s Physical Launch Sales in the UK Are 74% Lower Than Final Fantasy 15

The long-awaited Final Fantasy 16 launched worldwide last week, and it has been met with near-universal acclaim from critics and audiences alike in the immediate aftermath of its launch- though how is it performing from a commercial perspective? We’re going to have to wait a while before we get a proper answer to that question, but where its initial physical sales in the UK are concerned, the action RPG hasn’t had the biggest release.

That’s as per GamesIndustry’s Christopher Dring, who recently took to Twitter to reveal that though Final Fantasy 16 has debuted on top of the weekly UK physical charts (as per data provided by the Gfk), its physical launch sales are still 74% lower than those of its predecessor, Final Fantasy 15.

There are, of course, a few caveats to note here, chief among them being the fact that the share of digital sales for games has increased significantly since FF15’s 2016 launch, which means we won’t have a full picture of exactly how Final Fantasy 16 has fared upon release until information on its initial digital sales has also become available. It’s also worth noting that while Final Fantasy 15 released as a multiplatform title, its successor is available exclusively on the PS5.

Additionally, Dring also notes that in spite of its lower numbers, Final Fantasy 16 has still had a bigger physical launch in the UK than the likes of Dead Island 2 and Diablo 4, both of which are games that have seen impressive sales when digital is included.

Prior to Final Fantasy 16’s launch, it was claimed in reports that Square Enix was “panicking slightly” over the action RPG’s pre-order numbers, which were tracking behind Final Fantasy 15, prompting the publisher to kick off marketing for the upcoming Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth earlier than it had originally planned.

In our review of Final Fantasy 16, we awarded it a score of 10/10, saying, “Final Fantasy 16 isn’t just a stellar video game with gorgeous graphics and incredible combat. It’s also an emotionally engaging experience and the absolute peak of everything the series stands for.” Read the full review through here.

You can check out the full weekly UK retail charts through here.

Final Fantasy 16 is No.1 this week in the UK, but as boxed launches go, it wasn’t a particularly strong one. Physical sales are 74% lower than the launch week of Final Fantasy 15 in 2016. Obviously, digital is a much much bigger component of sales today. That data comes later

— Christopher Dring (@Chris_Dring) June 25, 2023

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.

— Christopher Dring (@Chris_Dring) June 25, 2023